The Change In Me
by KatKittyKat0123
Summary: When Dimitri said that his love fade, Rose decided to have a new life as a human. After 4 years, they meet again but Rose is now becoming a successful architect. When Dimitri tried to get Rose back, Rose promised to torture him because of what he has done. Will she give up her new life to be with Dimitri or will she continue to get her revenge? *Inspired by TV series; Revenge*
1. Chapter 1

**Hi! This is my first fanfic in Vampire Academy. This plot has been running in my mind for the past week so I decided to share it, Hope you like it. Read and Review! :D**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing from the Vampire Academy. Well, I wish I could own Dimirti haha.. just kidding.**

**Author's note: I'm sorry if the characters were a bit OC. (I guess?)**

**So... Here you go! Enjoy!**

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><p><strong>RPOV<strong>

I was running past in the woods, I have to get out of this place. I have to get out of the court. I have to get away without people noticing my absence. And daytime is reasonable.

But I'm not saving somebody or someone I always do whenever I get out of here. Because this time, I'm saving myself. Not from a strigoi or a punishment from the court or anything. I can manage to face those. I'm saving myself from the person I love. Don't get me wrong, he's not trying to kill me, well he was but he WAS a strigoi back then. But now, he was turned back into a dhampir but he did more terrible than wanting to kill me. He just broke my heart into thousand pieces like it was nothing.

As I got out of the woods, there's a car that have been waiting for me. I stopped in front of it and the black tinted window from the driver's seat rolled down as it reveals a male moroi.

"Are you sure about this?" he asked

"Yes" I answered sternly as I walked passed around the car. "Don't you dare tell anybody about this, Zmey" I added and got inside the car.

"How did you get out of the court" he asked and started the engine.

"I'm Hathaway. I have my ways."

Abe smirked and drove off. We stayed silent for the rest of the drive. We were heading to the Montana airport. I decided to visit Lissa for a while. I'm gonna miss her. She's still sleeping. I haven't been able to say goodbye to her personally or to anyone else.

*FLASHBACK

_It has been days since I've locked myself in my room. I don't know if it's the darkness inside me or just really me. I could feel my anger rising up as I think about the people I care and mostly I hate myself. Why? Simple. The person I love most just said he'd given up on me. His love faded and then he says that Lissa saved him. About Lissa, I can't really understand her… scratch that- she can't understand me. Why does she ask me to give him time? How could I do that when everybody thinks that she's the one who saved him? Can't I have some of my credits? And to myself, as much as I love Adrian, I admit I just can't give myself, my whole heart to him. I can't let go of Dimitri. But now, I have to._

_So this is my promise to myself, promise to life. I'll let go of these things. Whatever emotion I had in these place, with people in here, my life here, I'll let go of it. These would be buried in my past and never look back. And I'll start a new life, a new normal life like a normal person. I want change._

_With that, I got up in my bed and started to pack my clothes and stuff. I wrote some letters and called my father._

end of flashback*

"We're here." Abe said. The Montana airport is still the same from the last time I saw it. I wonder if it would look the same when I go back –if I will ever come back. We entered a different entrance.

"Private plane huh?"

"They could track you." Abe grinned and stopped the car. We stayed there for a while. "What are your plans now?" he asked.

"Live a normal life, like a normal person does at my age."

" You mean, you'll go to college?" he said in surprised and looked at me.

"No. I mean, I'll go kill innocent people and smuggle some drugs. Come on, what a normal person does?" I grinned and got out of the car and got my luggage. Abe followed.

"So, what are you going to take?" he asked patiently ignoring my comments.

"Well, that's for me to find out. Don't worry old man. You're not going to be bankrupt. I'll look for a job." I answered as we walk towards the plane.

Abe snickered and then grinned. "A normal father needs to provide for his normal daughter. Besides, even if you decided to take all the courses, my wealth won't be easily diminished." He said as his grin grew wider.

I looked at him. Even his casual -or usual looks I could still see in his eyes that he wanted to ask a lot of questions but decided to keep it in himself.

"I know you're not proud of my decision, Zmey. But from this moment onwards, I'll make sure you'll be proud of me." I said honestly, he's the only person I have now.

"You're a Hathaway. You're one of the best guardians. You bring back a dhampir from a strigoi. You've managed to protect Princess Dragomir. Whatever you plan, just go ahead." He said.

I stop walking. "Just one more thing, Zmey" Abe just looked at me curiously. "I know I've been asking a lot and-"

"Oh that's good to know that you know that" he interjected. I rolled my eyes at him.

"As I were saying, I've been asking a lot but this is the last one I would ask from you." I took a deep breath and looked down. "I want to change my name." I added silently. I haven't realized how nervous I am about this. Maybe I'm afraid to be rejected again.

Abe grinned knowing what I'm asking for. "And what would it be?"

"Katherine. Katherine Mazur"

"Keep your promise and make sure you're going to make me proud." He said as he started to walk towards the plane again. I followed silently, realizing that this would be the end and the new beginning of my life. I'll go to France and figure out what are my next favorite things to do.

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><p><strong>Lissa's POV<strong>

I got up from my bed and changed my clothes. I'll try to lure Rose outside today. It's been a week since she locked herself in her room. She's not eating and sleeping well. She needs some fresh air.

I know it has been hard for her to give Dimitri a time recover and adjust. And pushing him won't do any good. I could feel my instincts to protect him rising up but I immediately shake that thought. I know Rose won't intend to hurt him. But trying to provoke him like she did at the church won't help his case. I sighed and gently knocked on the door.

"Rose? It's me Lissa." Knowing that she won't open the door or answer me, I opened the door slowly and silently. I look around the room to find her. The place look… empty? Suddenly, I feel nervous. I walked towards the cabinet and there, my feelings confirmed. She ran away again. I didn't see this one coming, unlike when she ran to find Dimitri, I had the thought. I scanned the room, panic inside me swelled up. No, no… Rose won't leave me. She promised me.

I saw three white envelopes neatly placed at the center of her bed. I picked it up and it has names written at the back of . Lissa. Eddie.

I began to cry, knowing this is real. I ran towards the Ozera's wings. I saw Christian across the hallway. He saw me crying.

"What happened?"

"R- Rose… Leave." I answered as I show him the letters.

"Have you told Adrian about this?"

I shook my head we walked towards the Ivashkov wings. We knew it would be useless to catch for Rose at this time. We called for Eddie as we got inside into Adrian's room. I gave them the envelopes and started to read them.

I caught a glimpse of their letters as they opened them. Adrian got a short paragraph, maybe one to three sentences. After he read it, he just grinned and folded it and placed it in his pocket while Eddie has two pieces of paper. Mine? I got one piece of paper that says:

_Lissa,_

_ I'm so sorry if I haven't been able to say goodbye personally. I'm gonna miss you so much, you know that. You're like my sister and nothing would change that. I don't know when I'm going back or if I'll still come back. So in the meantime, please don't try to find someone like Avery, okay? Take care of yourself and please tell fireboy that I'm gonna miss his fine remarks._

_Rose_

_P.S. I'll try to send some postcard if you would be kind not to track me._

Why? Why did she leave me again? She hasn't said a word about the reason of her sudden leave. I looked again to the worried and a bit of angry but he seems… relaxed or satisfied? Eddie has his guardian mask. I'm curious about the two page message he got. But Rose put it inside the envelope and we knew that whatever she said at those letters would be kept to ourselves. But really, why would I keep my message as a secret? What would Rose say to Eddie? But to my surprise, Eddie didn't read the next page. Instead, he just folded it and took his exit silently.

There's one thing I keep on thinking, should I tell Dimitri or not?


	2. Chapter 2

Whew! I was so nervous that you guys won't like my story. And on the contrary, I received alerts about reviews and favorite & alert story within hours. Because of this, I've been inspired to bring you the second chapter while I have some time. Oh! Sorry for the wrong grammar!

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><p><strong>ROSE POV<strong>

It has been four years since I left the court and living a normal life. Okay, not so normal life. I just finished a five year course within 3 ½ years and I've been practicing it for 6 months even if I don't have my license. Abe said that I don't have to take the minor subjects that have nothing to with my course. So yeah, I finished Architecture within 3 ½ years. I didn't know that my father's influence could reach the humans. Well, I don't mind. I stayed in France for almost two years and finished my course at University of British Columbia in Canada, as Katherine.

When I had some breaks, sometimes I visited other vampire academy to teach the upcoming guardians. I made a few close friends in academies and at the university. There are times that I visited the Belikovs. I've told them about what happened to Dimitri. They didn't asked me too much about us since then. Maybe Yeva had told them.

They're like my second family. So now, I've decided to pay a visit this summer. Maybe we could go to the beach and have some fun time. I'll rent for a SUV when I got there but of course I can't baby here. Wherever I go, my chevy would be with me.

My features changed a bit. My straight curtain-like black hair is now permanently curled dark brown. I always keep a "fake" eyeglass with me. Most of my colleagues back at the university wear an eyeglass because of the late night work and plates that cause them to have poor eyesight. So I decided to act like them. Besides, it makes me look formal and professional. Also, I grew taller, about 2-4 inches.

I usually dress in my favorite style, three inches leather boots in which can keep up with my running, skinny jeans, light colored tank top and leather jacket. But today I decided against it. I'll wear something professional since I haven't seen the Belikovs since I graduate.

I stopped my red camaro –and yes, it's convertible- in front of the familiar house. I took a deep breath, put my glasses on and took their gift and walked towards the door.

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><p><strong>Dimitri POV<strong>

I've been in my old room in our house. At last, I'm back after so many years. My room hasn't changed a bit, except for the big harp and chair added beside the window. I asked Vika, why is there a harp in my room. She said she's trying to learn how to play one and her room is too small for it. And asked her again how they managed to buy one. She said that it was a gift that was passed down to her.

I've been staying here for three days now and Yeva never talked to me since I arrived. She'll just look at me and then she'll go back to her room. I sighed and walk towards my bookshelf. I took one of the books, gone with wind, when my mother yelled from downstairs that it's lunchtime.

When I was about to sit down to eat, Yeva finally talked to me.

"быть готовыми" ( Be ready) And with that she continued to eat like nothing happened and ignored me.

Be ready? About what? Attacks? Is there a strigoi about to attack? Where? In our house or at the court? I haven't really thought about the strigoi attacking my family. But now that she said to be ready, I became nervous that years after, the strigoi I was with might attack my family. But-

_*knock, knock, knock*_

My train of thoughts was interrupted by a knock in our door. Vika volunteered to get the door but since no one was expecting a visitor, they all looked at the door. Curious who's behind it, except for Yeva. I look at her, hoping that she might give me another clue about the thing that she said or any signs in her face when I heard Vika squealed in excitement.

"Katherine!" Vika yelled in a pure joy just like she did when I first came home. Her hair is threw everywhere and blocked Katherine's face –whoever she is. My whole family, even Yeva, quickly gets up and walked towards the living room with this we-miss-you-smile. Who's this Katherine? So out of curiosity, I followed them.

She mumbled something to Vika and my sister jumped off.

"Oh. Oh… I'm sorry! I didn't mean to. I just missed you so much" she said as my heart fell off the floor.

Katherine. Katherine is no other than my Roza. I froze in my place. Not believing in what's happening in front of me. So this is what I should be ready then.

"Yeah… You missed me so much that you squeezed the life out of me" she said and chuckled. She proceeded to hug the rest of my family and hand them some paper bags as she say her greetings.

I took in her image, memorizing every detail of her. Her hair is brown, long and curled. She grew taller the last time I remember. Four year, I reminded myself. She wears black slacks, white ruffled blouse and covered with brown trench coat… and red eyeglasses. Why would she wear one? Dhampirs have great eyesight.

I watched her as she mingles and talked pleasantly to everyone. Then finally, she looked at me. My heart skipped a beat. Her face was blank, not giving any kind of emotion. I don't know what to say. Everything is silent; I could hear our clock ticking.

"Hey." She said after a while and gave me a small smile but her eyes were still blank. I haven't been able to answer her. I was shock. Well, shock is an understatement.

She turned back to my family, not waiting for my answer, as she gave Yeva a small bow of respect. Yeva nodded in approval. They invited her to eat with us.

The time passed and I'm engulfed with my own world. I looked intently at Rose. Everyone calls her Katherine. So that's the reason why everyone can't track her. She uses a different name. The lunch ended and she volunteered to wash the plates. My mother, of course, refused to let her.

So now, the rest of the family is now at the living room, opening the gifts from my Roza. Everyone seems at ease and likes her. They all look like a family. How did I let this happen? I've given up on the only woman I love. My love never fades even after the four years that she's gone.

"Hey, Uncle Dimka! Look what Aunt Katherine gave me!" Paul held a ball in front of him with a big smile. "Let's play outside!"

Even if I don't want to get away from Rose, I decided to play with Paul in front of the house. We saw a red convertible parked in front of the house. Paul mumbles a wow, my dream car, how fast… and so on.

"Aunt Katherine! Is this yours?" Paul yelled as he walks around the car.

Rose walk towards the door.

"Yes… Do you want to have a ride?" She asked. Paul looked at her with big pleading eyes and nodded. She chuckled, I love that sound. "Sure. Play with your uncle first. We would talk for a while and then we go to drive around."

"Okay!" He answered excitedly. The other small girls complained that they wanted to ride too but she said that they would have their turns because it's a two-seater car. We played at the other side of the house while I listen to their conversation.

"Congratulations, Katherine" Karolina said.

"Thanks. But it's not that much. If my father didn't help me, I'm sure I'm still studying now. So I'm not that proud." She answered.

"You should be. You graduated as a cum laude at UBC" my mother said.

Wow. She graduated as a cum laude at UBC. UBC? University of British Columbia? That's in Canada right?

"Yeah, mom's right. So how was your job?" This time it's Sonya who asked.

"It's quite good. Zmey got me into this company that pays me well even if I just finished my studies and not having my license yet. But I got my licensure exam two months ago."

"Oh I'm sure you'll pass that one. Good thing you had a time to visit us."

"I hope so. Yeah, after I got my projects, I arranged some things at the office and decided to visit you, guys."

"Don't you have to go to your office when you work, auntie?" Zoya asked.

"Why honey? Don't you want me here?" She asked. Her voice sounded a bit hurt. Paul decided to go inside since he's too excited to ride the car. So I followed him.

"No, Auntie! I'm just afraid that you'll leave us suddenly just like the last time."

"I'm so sorry for that, Zoya. I really needed to that time. But as long as there won't be a problem to my schedule, I'm not leaving until next week. I do have some work but I don't need to go to our." She explained gently. Now I'm really curious about her job.

"Wow… It's so cool to be an Architect. You don't have to go to office every now and then." Paul suddenly said as we got inside the house.

Architect. So that's what she took up. I never thought that she would take liking about arts and stuff. They keep on talking for some more before Paul complained that he can't wait any longer. Everyone laugh and Rose got up and took her keys.

Paul run towards the car as he heard the alarm beeped. And its hood rolled down. They drove off after a while. Hearing them talking about her job, seeing her drive off her chevy, the way she looks, she has been successful to her chosen career. She has her new life. I don't exist in that, and she's out of my league. She's not my Roza anymore. She's Katherine. And Roza is long gone by now because of me. I'm the one who caused this hurt.

I headed towards the kitchen and got a glass of cold water.I was drinking when Yeva suddenly said, "Не ожидайте, что баллотироваться в руки. Она провела годы поместить себя вместе." (Don't expect her to run into your arms. She spent years in putting herself back together.)

"Я знаю. Но у нее жизнь сейчас." (I know. But she has her life now.)

"Она может быть другой человек сейчас, но поднялся до сих пор там. Копать глубоко и не сдавайтесь, когда вы даже не пытается." (She may be a different person now, but rose is still in there. Dig deep and don't give up when you're not even trying.)

She's right, I'm not even trying and I'm giving up. She gave me a small smile even though I didn't deserve it. I've given up on her and she has the every right to ignore me and be mad at me. I let her go the last time and I won't let it happened again.

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><p>Here it is! I hope you like it. Please, please review. I want to know more about what you think. I was so excited about the alerts and stuff so I happened to write the next chapter. I'm not sure about the chapter three if I would be in the mood to write later or tomorrow. Anyways, keep reading! And enjoy! :)<p> 


	3. Chapter 3

**Haha! It totally made my day. Favorite story, Story Alerts and most of all, Reviews. Thank you! I would like to thank you, especially Kohinoor about his/her review that get me in my mood to do this next chapter (I was thinking if I would use the 'Mr Lovefades' if you'll let me. 'Cause it's funny :D ). And to kimmy32 that gave me review every chapter.**

**ENJOY!**

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><p><strong>Dimitri POV<strong>

It was about 6 in the afternoon when Paul and Rose arrived. But not in her red camaro, instead they came back with a black Chevrolet Suburban.

"Katherine! What happened to your car?" Sonya asked worriedly as she meets them at the doorway. "Paul didn't do anything bad to your car, didn't he?"

"Of course not!" Paul immediately answered.

Rose chuckled as they got inside. I love hearing that that sometimes it brings pain in my chest. The rest of my family came to look for the sudden change of her car. Did they got into an accident? This is what I'm saying, maybe Rose drove too fast. I looked at them as she settled in the couch, I searched for any scratches or wounds or any signs of accident.

"No, no… Paul behaved the whole time." She said as Paul grinned widely.

"But you promised that we'll have each turns to ride with your car." Zoya complained.

"Yes honey, you would have you turn but didn't I promise also that we'll go to the beach this summer before I left?" Rose said as she held her big gentle smile. I felt my heart skipped a beat as I saw her. Wait. What? Beach?

"We're going swimming?" Zoya asked excitedly.

"Yes." She answered. "Is it okay if we go tomorrow? Your jobs might-"

"It's okay darling. Besides, we should celebrate your graduation, first job and future license." Olena interrupted her.

"I'm not sure about the license thing…" She mumbled

"My mom's right! And its weekend and we don't need to go to our jobs." Karolina added.

"Okay! So it's settled then. We're going to go swimming tomorrow, so pack your things!" Rose said excitedly.

My family followed her willing and began to have a mental list on what to bring tomorrow. They're going to the beach tomorrow and I'm pretty sure that I can't go with them. I can't ruin this for Rose. I watched them as they go upstairs as they chatted animatedly.

"Uncle Dimka, aren't you going to pack your thing?" Paul asked me.

"I'm not sure if I'm invited to go with you." I answered him honestly.

Paul gave me an odd look. "Of course you are, uncle. You're part of the family remember?" he said before Sonya called him to go upstairs and pack his things.

I sat on the couch, not knowing what else I can do when suddenly, I heard music upstairs. I grinned; Vika is playing the harp at last. I went slowly to my room. Listening intently to the music, it's a classical one but I don't remember the title, Sonata maybe? It's relaxing and soothing your soul. I never thought my sister had a talent in music. Hearing the sound of it makes me want to lie down in my bed. I had a long day and I want to sleep even if it's only past 6.

I opened the door silently to see Viktoria playing. Oh… I was wrong, it's not Vika playing, and it's my Roza. My heart fell to the ground and I froze for the second time. I watched her as her hands gently plucked the strings. She's playing beside the window and the sun gives her more color. Her dark brown curly hair shines against the light. Her skin is glowing. Her eyes are closed, feeling the sound she creates. She held a small smile, enjoying the time and music she had. She looks like an angel and I could go on forever by just watching her play the instrument.

"Hi there, Comrade" She suddenly said. I haven't realized that the song ended. 'Comrade' I missed hearing that word. I missed her voice saying those. I haven't able to answer her. But again, she's not expecting for me to answer. She's looking outside the window, still held her small smile, like I'm not here. She watches the sunset. And I'm contented to just watch her too, just the look of her-

'Dig deep and don't give up' I heard Yeva's words at the back of my head. I swallowed my saliva. I'm too nervous to say anything to her.

"Roza…" I said with different emotions held that one word, nervous, afraid, sad, happy, and proud, hurt, concerned, and conflicted, everything. I don't know what else to say. I took a step forward. Rose stayed silent and still as she look outside like she didn't hear me. But her smile fell of and her face turned into a blank one. She inhaled deeply and sighed. She closed her eye as I see a flash of hurt and anger and back to blank face in a matter of milliseconds.

It hit me like a train wreck. I hurt her. I know I did but seeing her a while ago with all her smiles and laughs, it was less hurting to see as I thought that she was all better now. But now that I saw her pain for a second, I feel devastated. I'm feeling worse that being a strigoi back to a dhampire when I turned back.

"I-I'm so-"

"Don't." She stopped me. She opened her eyes to continue watching the sunset. "I'm not Rose. Don't bother to say sorry." She added and then turns back to the harp and started to play a new song 'Canon'. I feel my knees weakened. I sat down at my bed. I look down at the floor, not being able to look at her again.

I made this, I made her like this. I'm the one who caused her walls. Yes, she talks to me, she didn't completely ignore me, but she's doing all of these, not because she's not angry at me anymore but because she's not Rose. Katherine. I reminded myself.

"You could go with us, you know." She said as she continues to play like nothing happened between us a while ago. Well, maybe nothing happened to her but-

"I'm here to give myself and your family a good time. And you, being here and won't go with us will make your family…less happy." She added and stopped playing. She sighed and walked towards the door. "Oh… I'm sorry for using your room without…er…your permission." She said and walked again.

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><p>"Uncle Dimka! Uncle Dimka! Get up! Up!" Paul yelled at me. I groaned and blink my eyes. Paul had a big smile at me. He made sure I'm wide awake and then ran towards the other rooms to wake them. Right. Swimming. I stretched and got off the bed.<p>

I was on my was to the kitchen to grab some breakfast when I saw Rose sleeping in the couch. I stopped. I swore to myself silently. How could I forget that? She had told me last night for using my room when I was gone. When did I became a douche bag and let her sleep in the couch? Oh. Yeah. Four years ago I was for letting the one I love go.

I walked carefully beside her and watched her. Even ig she's a different person, now, she's still my angel when she sleeps.

"Auntie Katherine! Wake up!" Zoya yelled and ran beside Rose. "Auntie!" She added. Rose groaned and opened her eyes. She looked at Zoya and then at me. She blinked a few times and then groaned again. She sat up slowly and carefully. A pang of guilt grew on me. She muttered something to herself that I can't understand. Maybe French? I don't know. She got up and go to the bathroom.

Everyone was so excited and I'll be lying if I said I don't feel like they do. This is my first time to get out with them after so many years. We ate breakfast hurriedly and packed some foods. I put our luggage to the back of the SUV.

Rose and I were seated at the front, my mother, Sonya, Karolina and Yeva are at the middle, while Viktoria and the kids at the back. Rose drives, of course, towards the beach. I was expecting that she'll drive like crazy or drunk but to my surprise, it was a pleasant drive.

Shortly, were at the beach. A few families were there, some are group of friends and some are lovers. Mostly humans but there are few dhampirs. My family set up the picnic mat and some foods under the three big umbrellas to give us shade. The kids got didn't wait to change their clothes and started running towards the waves. Vika and Rose headed to the ladies' room to change while we set up the things. I decided to take off my shirt since I'm already wearing a beach shorts. I was placing my shirt back to my bag when I saw them walking towards us. My younger sister, Vika, and my Roza were both wearing bikinis. I looked at Rose and I felt Dimitri jr. twitched and hardened in response. She wears a dark blue two-piece swimsuit with thick black lining, and black tinted shades.

Oh boy. I think I'm gonna be a boner this whole day… and night.

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><p><strong>ROSE POV<strong>

"Auntie!" Zoya yelled at me. I groaned and opened my eyes as I looked at her. I noticed someone else, a tall man beside her. I look up and saw Dimitri. I blinked a few times. He's still there. Nah… So it's not a dream. He's really here. I got up slowly as I groaned. My back hurts.

"Comment osez-ce mec pour me laisser dormir sur le canapé." (How dare this guy to let me sleep on the couch.) I muttered. Huh, I'll get my payback later.

I hadn't really planned to actually go swimming. I'll just go with them, eat some snack or lunch, and maybe play some beach volleyball. But I had a sudden change of plan in my mind, torture-Dimitri-plan. Well, not torture physically, but more on mentally.

So after we ate our breakfast, we got ready and drove off to the beach. I've been here for more than three times and able to meet some new friends back then but I doubt it if they still remember me. Sometimes I surf or sometimes just watch the sunset or jogging. Vika told me that we can change our clothes at the ladies room since no one was using it at the moment and let the rest of the family set our picnic mat.

So this is where I would start my little revenge. I changed my clothes and I wear my favorite dark blue and black bikini and my shades. I held up my chin and started to walk confidently. We walk back to the Belikovs and saw Dimitri looking at me. His facial expression is priceless. I wanted to laugh but I decided to just smirk at him. Play cool, Kath. Play cool. I reminded myself.

To be fair, his body never changed a bit, his well-tones and perfect muscles are still there like a magnet to every girl at the beach. I walked in front of him and felt that the other Belikovs grew silent. I cupped his chin gently and felt all the electricity between us but I ignored it. I'm enjoying my game and I don't want it to be ruined, especially by me.

"Close you mouth, Comrade. The beach has enough salt water, you might drown us of your drool." I said and chuckled. I stepped back to examine him like it was my first time to actually see him. "I forgot how perfect your body is. Well, they called you a Russian god for a reason." I said with my British accent I learned for the past few years. I smirked and turned my back to him and walk.

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><p><strong>What do you think? So… I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it.<strong>

**As I said, I appreciate it more if you would have the time to give me some reviews.**

**Same rules apply; the more reviews the faster update. :P**

**ENJOY!**


	4. Chapter 4

Finally! I've got some time to post the next chapter. I'm so sorry for waiting too long. We've got sooooo many plates and all. No time to waste. Here it is!

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><p>DPOV<p>

The rest of my family fell silent –except for the kids, good thing they're swimming already – as Rose leave us after what she said. They exchanged looks, not sure how to respond with what just happened between us. I watched her as she leave the rest of us and drew attention from the other guys unintentionally. She was walking towards Vika with some moroi guys – right, I forgot that it's not only Roza that I have to guard – when a dhampir jog towards Rose with a smile. He's tan and almost 6'5 tall, short blonde hair and has a good physique. He looks like a model of some girl's magazine or something. Though, he looks familiar to me, I'm not sure where and when did I saw him.

I felt something inside me stir as he comes nearer with Roza. He like her, no doubt in that but did he knew her or he just wanted to meet her?

"Katherine!" He shouted. That answered my question. How close they are? He knew her by her name, Katherine. I grimaced as I watch Roza turned to him and gave him a breath-taking smile, called him by his name and then hugged. Michael huh… I guess Vika can handle the attention from other guys for now.

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><p>RPOV<p>

"Katherine!" A voice I knew well called me somewhere. I smiled, without even seeing the person and turned to see him.

"Michael!" I returned the same enthusiasm in my voice and gave him my man-eater smile. God, how I missed this person, he's my long time friend. He likes me but he knew me well enough not to hope for a relationship like that from me. We hugged something we always do when we haven't seen each other in a long time.

"Hey! Welcome back!" he said as he patted my back and let go of each other.

I grinned. "I've finished my course."

"Well, congratulations, Kat." He said with proud and happiness in his eyes. He's like a brother to me, almost six years older than me. He treats me like his younger sister the way I wanted to be. I always wished for a brother just like Lissa had when we were still kids. He's neither like Adrian who always worries for nor Dimitri who gives me Zen like lessons whenever I commit mistakes. Michael has his own way, he got my back and he lets me do whatever I want and supports me. It felt like I have a real brother that will fight with me and guide me to whatever patch I choose. I can relax relax and be myself when I'm with him.

"I'm glad you have time to visit here." He said after a while.

"Of course… I will always have time for you guys. By the way, I'm with the Belikovs today. I promised them that I'll bring them here, last summer."

"Yeah… You always have time like you don't study at all. I'm actually surprised that you've managed to finish your course." He said and we laughed.

"Hey! I've studied so hard for that."

"Well, I guess your father was truly influential." He continued to joke around me. I punched him lightly in his chest though I knew he won't mind if I hit him harder than that. Michael has an oozing beach body that got every girl's attention. He's always in the beach, surfing, playing beach volleyball or beach soccer, Frisbee, and sometimes, he just sits there and watch the waves.

_We've met years ago when I just got here in Russia after I had my first semester break. I went here to watch the sunset almost every afternoon and then I ran afterwards to stay fir. But one afternoon as I was watching the sun goes down, someone sat down beside me. I ignored him. I'm used to some random guy trying to get my attention every now and then._

"_So, who's the lucky dumber guy?" he asked suddenly. I looked at him in surprise. Am I that obvious? How did he know? He sighed._

"_It's not obvious at first." He answered as if reading my mind. "But, to see you here almost everyday watching the sunset, it becomes very obvious that you're mending a broken heart and like you have a sign above your head that says 'Keep off, I'm broken hearted'" He continue to explain._

"_Then why don't you 'Keep off' if it's too obvious?" I asked in irritation. I don't like people reading me easily. He chuckled._

"_You know, I don't always follow the rules." He answered. Great, another me, I guess._

_Then that's how our friendship started. Turns out, he's an unpromised guardian. He graduated but he decided not to fully serve the morois. It's like a part time job only, he teaches in St. Basil's Academy but he only teaches when he wanted to. Sometimes, he helps in guarding the academy. He's too good that the Academy can't turn him down. When he was still studying, he was a lower batch of Dimitri. He's as good as Dimitri when it comes to fighting, like he's the star of his batch, but in personalities, they're completely different person. "They don't always comes first." He once said to me._

" Oh. I still have your favorite surf board. Wanna try your luck?" he asked.

"Hey! It's not just my luck! I've told you it depends on my mood." I said defending myself and he chuckled. He always believes that I can only surf due to my luck. Well, he's right, sometimes I don't know what I'm even doing and just got lucky with the waves. So now, I'm gonna try my luck again.

As I jog towards my surf board, I caught a glimpse of the Russian God looking intently at us. Right, I almost forgot about my little revenge. I might as well enjoy this one.

We surf through the waves, and yes, I'm lucky enough and with my determination not to be embarrassed in front of the Belikovs, I can say I was awesome in that moment. I was having too much fun with Michael that I completely forgot that I'm with the Belikovs. I found myself laughing so hard at the sight in front of me, Michael being buried in the sand. I felt like a child again. I've always love the beach, I've never got to enjoy one when I was in the academy.

"Hey, Kat. Since you're the one who buried me here, could you please get me a soda?" He asked.

"Fine" I pouted. "Just wait here for a moment." I said as I started to get up.

"Yeah… Like I can go somewhere else in this state." He said sarcastically. I laughed and rolled my eyes dramatically and started to walk towards the store.

As I buy some soda, I watch the beach volleyball tournament near the store. I wonder if Michael and I can pull some strings and join the games like we used to. I watch for a while, I'm sure Michael won't mind to wait for long.

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><p>DPOV<p>

As Rose walked away, I grabbed my opportunity to talk to Michael. I'm very curious as to why he seems familiar to me. This is the first time they separated after being together for hours. I sat down beside him quietly. I watched them the whole time as they both surf towards the waves and got everyone's attention and as my Roza buried this man in the sand, leaving only his head in the surface while they were laughing. I felt anger, envy and sadness all at the same time as I watched them. I keep on reminding myself that I don't have the right to feel all of these. Hell, I don't even have the right to confront this man. What am I doing? I should let Rose have her life. I started to get up-

"So, you like her huh?" He suddenly said.

I stopped and looked at him. He's looking at the waves with a smile like he didn't say anything at all.

"You know, this is where we met, years ago. She was so devastated back then because of the man she loved but doesn't give a damn about her." He continued. It felt like I was punched in the face million times. I knew I hurt Rose too much but hearing it from a stranger is another thing. But he knew nothing from me; I love Rose more than anything in this world and if-

"I might say that you don't stand a chance with her, but seeing her reaction towards you is different from the other guys." He continued. Of course I'm different. I'm the one who hurt her, I thought.

"How different?" I finally said. I don't know what to expect and what to feel about what is he saying. Should I feel happy or sad or what? Should I believe him? He might not know Rose too much but he knew Katherine, that's for sure.

"Oh…It's like Rosemarie Hathaway is coming back from the dead." He answered coolly.

What? What is he trying to say? What did he mean by that? I want to ask him more questions but I was too stunned by his answer that I can't even speak to begin with.

"Funny isn't it? You're the reason why Rose is gone and Katherine was made. Yet, her e you are, making Rose come back." Wait, he knew me? How? Who is this guy?

"H-how? You knew me." I asked.

"Of course, Guardian Belikov. Now, Kat won't be so nice to me if she sees me talking to you." He said. I got up knowing he's right and walk back to my family. Everything went in blur as I sat down in our mat. I was replaying the conversation we just had again and again. I was surprised to see Rose coming back towards us and my family started to pack our things. I helped my mother with the packing absentmindedly. We left the beach at almost four in the afternoon. The kids were complaining that it was too early to leave but Rose said that she receive a phone call from her father. By the time we got to our house, a guy in a black suite is waiting outside our house. He looks like an agent or spy from a movie or tv series. Rose immediately went to him, clearly worried about something might be wrong.

"Quel est le probleme?" She said. The man shook his head.

"Il n'ya pas de problème, madame. En fait, nous devrions célébrer." He said. I cant understand a thing about what they're saying. But I know enough that they're talking in French. My family and I were all watching them as they talk in bizarre. He held out a white envelope to Rose.

Roza widened her eyes as she saw the white envelope. She looked at the man's eyes once again as if to confirm what she's thinking. The man smiled to her and then nod. She took the envelope from him gently and looked closely at the front seal and opened it.

"je suis passé" she whisper to herself as she read the letter. She read the letter again and again. She looked up at us with a big smile on her face. She looks so beautiful that it hurts me? Why did I let her go?

"je suis passé! j'ai passé l'examen permis d'exercice!" She exclaimed and hugged the man. The man was too stunned by her action but patted her back.

"félicitations madame" he said. She let him go and run towards my family.

"j'ai passé l'examen permis d'exercice!" She said to us with excitement. My family just looks at her in puzzle. We clearly didn't understand a thing about what she said or what's happening. Roza realized that she said it in another language.

"Oh! Sorry! I was too excited and all. I passed the licensure examination! I am a licensed Architect now! Finally!" She explained. Everyone said wow and congratulations to her and then hugged her. Of course she made it, I thought. Roza is always special. When she wants something, she's always determined to reach for it. She believes in herself, always glows in determination.

"Madame, the Belikov Family is invited by your father to celebrate later." The man said in english to let us know what is he talking about.

"Celebrate later?" Rose said in surprise.

"Yes, madame. You know your father; he likes to celebrate about this kind of things." He confirmed.

"Yeah, more like to brag about this kind of things." She said and they laugh.

"He also said to wear something formal. There would be a car that would arrive here at around 7. It has the things that you might need. Around 8, it would take you to the venue." He explained to us as he walks to his car.

"And as for you madame, your father wants you to come around 6. Please don't be late." He said and got inside to his car and drove away.

Everyone started to get inside our house but Yeva walk towards Rose. She held a look that says she just saw something. She holds Roza's hands and look deeply in her eyes.

"You'll have to choose between the two." She said.

Rose blink a few times in surprise, trying to decipher what she heard, then smile.

"Oh…Yeva, if this is about your grandson, I don't think-"

"No… This is more important that what you thought. Take your time to think about what you really want. You might give up to something you want to get what you really want." Then she walk inside the house.

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><p>Tadaaaa… Since I delayed in posting this chapter, I made it longer for you guys. So, please review. I might post the next chapter tomorrow or the following day, depends on how many reviews I got. :)P deal?<p>

Here's the translations!

Congratulations, madame - félicitations madame

What is the problem? – Quel est le probleme?

There is no problem, madame. In fact, we should celebrate. - Il n'ya pas de problème, madame. En fait, nous devrions célébrer.

i passed the licensure exam - j'ai passé l'examen permis d'exercice

I passed - je suis passé


	5. Chapter 5

Hi guys! I'm sorry for taking too long before updating again! Because of that, I'm giving you two chapters today. Yey! :)) No more talking. Here it is!

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><p><strong>DPOV<strong>

We were on our way towards the St. Petersburg when I felt extremely nervous. Mr. Ibrahim Mazur invited me to this party. After hurting his daughter years ago, I'm sure he's gonna kill me this time. He doesn't look like the type of man that forgive and forget easily. I'm lucky if I ever make it out of this party alive. Maybe this time, I'm going to experience his wrath.

I looked at my family. They talk pleasantly though you could tell that they're nervous as well. They haven't attend a party like this. Everything we're wearing are provided by Mr. Mazur. When the driver came and said that everything that we need are provided, he literally meant everything, from accessories to clothes and shoes. Everything. I don't even know what to think nor feel about this party. Sure, it's about celebration of the new success of Roza. It would all consist of upperclassmen. Back in the Academy and court, we guardians, do nothing but watch and protect the Morois we serve.

My train of thoughts stopped when the car parked at the front of a huge building, the Corinthia Nevskij Palace Hotel. We we're escorted towards the elevator. Everything about the building screams luxury. Even with our elegant clothes, we still feel out of place. The ride in the elevator is quiet; everyone's nervous. The bellman pushed the top floor button. When the elevator door opened, what I saw reminded me of the difference between Rose and Katherine.

The whole place is decorated with white clothes and flowers. The tables and chairs match the design. There's an orchestra playing at the stage. Most of the guests are humans and I could only count the Morois and Dhampirs with my hands, except from my family. The Morois that are obviously friends with Zmey with their guardians. However, there's a group of dhampirs that looks like they guard no one. They all seems familiar. And of course, from that group, stands with them is no other than Michael.

Dimitri thought on how to separate Michael from the group but before he could think of a plan, Michael spotted him.

"Oh! Here comes Mr. Lovefades!" Michael said with a smirk, loud enough for both party to hear him, while walking towards the Belikovs. "Good evening Belikovs." He said as he bowed to them. Dimitri is still fuming when Michael called him '_Mr. Lovefades_'. "I'm sorry I wasn't able to greet you a while ago at the beach. Kat and I got caught up with playing." He added.

"It's okay, my dear. We know you also misses each other." Olena answered with a smile. _'So they know who Michael is'_ he thought.

"Can we talk for a second?" I interjected. I'm getting impatient as I hate being kept in the dark.

"Oh I don't think "a second" is enough for you" he answered while I started to walk towards an empty spot. I know I'm starting to act like a child, but years after finding Roza, I'm not going to just stand here. I stopped and face Michael. What do I ask first?

"So, Mr. Lovefades?"

"Enough about me. How do you know me?" I asked not beating around the bush.

"Impatient, are we? That's not how Kat described you to me" He answered coolly.

"Just answer it." I said through gritted teeth. Michael sighed and pointed towards his group of dhampirs.

"Try to remember them"

Yes, they all seem familiar to me. As I studied them, I remember the days when I was still a student from the academy learning how to fight. These dhampirs are of the same academy but only a lower batch than mine. Why aren't guarding a Moroi?

"Finally..." Michael said as if reading my mind again. "You're the top of your batch. It's easy to recognize you. You're quite famous." He added.

"And so are you." I answered. "You're also the top of your batch. I'm sorry if I didn't recognize you earlier."

Michael just shrug. Dimitri was about to ask another question about their guarding Morois when Zmey cleared his throat at the stage with his mic.

"Good evening to all of you." Zmey started. "As you are all aware of, my lovely and talented daughter just graduated six months ago. Now, we're here to celebrate her recent success, being a licensed Architect! Please welcome, Katherine Mazur!" he announced as he held his hand in front of him, signalling to everyone to look at the elevator door.

As everyone clapped their hands in excitement, the doors of the elevator opened. Katherine stepped out and the claps became louder and you could hear the sounds of awe as they take in her beauty. Dimitri felt his heartbeat quicken at the sight. Her hair is flattened straight and silky like a curtain. Her skin is white and fair that doesn't show any sign of battle in her previous years. She wears a white simple flowing gown that looks like a wedding gown from the medieval period. Her flat shoes has straps of silver linings. She walks at the center with grace and elegance.

If someone told Dimitri that the young lady in front of them is a Goddess, he would believe it right away.

As she join her father at the stage, she mumbled a soft thank you to him. He stepped away from the mic to give her the space. She tentatively smiled as she looked at everyone across the stage. Aware that everyone is waiting for her to speak, she broaden her smile and happily sighed.

"Thank you for joining me to celebrate this little success that I had." She started and looked at her father. "Trust my father for throwing such parties, you'll think that he's actually the one who passed the exam." She added playfully and looked back at the audience who were all laughing. "In everything I do, I put my best to always make my father proud of me. And now that he's a doting parent more than ever," she said with such a breathtaking smile while a waiter comes and gives her a glass of champagne. "Let's all have a toast as I added another reason for him to boast about." She ended while gently laughing at her father. The audience followed her lead and toast for them. Katherine sipped from her champagne and stepped aside for her father.

"What a lovely speech from my not-so-lovely-anymore daughter" Zmey said as he chuckles. "Don't act so cool now. Moments ago you were gushing on how amazing it is that you passed the exam." Everyone laughed. "Cheers for my daughter who passed the licensure exam and acts like its nothing" Zmey finally said and everybody responded.

Dimitry watch Rose from the corner as she entertained every guests. He saw how far Rose has become, how different her life from him, how successful she is. A bittersweet smile form in his lips when he realized that what Rose said to him last night is right. She's not his Roza anymore, she's Katherine now and Dimitri has no place in Katherine's life. But for the past four years that they had been searching for Roza, he experience that pain of living without her. Now that he found her, he's going to fight for her with everything he got.

But, does he still deserve her?

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><p><strong>ROSEKATHERINE'S PO**V

I walked towards the groups of my co guardian at the another Vampire Academy at Russia. Well, we're not a promised guardian. We just teach at the academy whenever we want to. With our reputation, the academy didn't mind it. Thus, they're thankful for our help since it's for free. I made some friends with Michael's batch mates while staying there. The group consists of four unpromised guardians including Michael.

"Oh! There comes our little princess!" A tall tanned black haired man named Sebastian said as he noticed me coming. I laughed carelessly. People at the academy calls us the _"Power five"_ when we group together because of our skills. Elders look lowly on us since we didn't follow our responsibilities for the Moroi and we only became useful to them whenever we want to. We couldn't care less. If it's about skills and tactics, they couldn't complain more. Being the only girl in our group, they sometimes tease me as their princess. Well, that and I'm Zmey's daughter.

"Come on... I know you guys missed me." I answered with a wink and hugged all of them. They each said their 'congratulations' to me.

"Guess we'll be missing you a lot more." Matthew, a blonde man, said

"Yeah. No semester breaks, no hunting." Tyler, another black haired man added. I rolled my eyes. I know they have their little huntings whenever they want to even without me.

"You know it's not the same without you." Michael said as if reading my mind.

"Sometimes I really believe that you have some psychic power like mind reading." I joked. "I can always come here if I don't have a project. Actually, I can also come if I do have one and I'm not needed at the office. So, see? I could still be with you guys." I reassured.

"How long are you going to stay here?" Sebastian asked

"A week or so. We could plan a little hunt." I suggested. I missed the thrill of hunting the strigois. I might be Katherine now but my body is still a product of years of training to be a guardian. Can't let it go to waste, right?

"How about tomorrow night? We have some lead." Michael said in excitement.

"Then it's a plan."

I excused myself and get to the other guests. I'm glad they didn't ask me about Dimitri. I'm sure by now, they knew it but that's what I like about them. They don't force me to talk, they just wait until I'm ready to talk. I've managed to talk to every guest of the party even the Belikovs, except for Dimitri. I sighed. I always make sure that everyone got a chance to have a little chat with me. But talking to Dimitri, I want to just skip ahead. I don't want to hear his brooding.

I find him talking to my father. I strode towards them. As my father saw me, he excused himself to give us privacy. Before Zmey walk away, he gave Dimitri a death glare. I sighed. My father and his threats. Dimitri looked at me with his bittersweet smile. I smiled and shook my head slightly.

"Stop brooding. You would only look older, you know. You're not getting any younger." I said. Dimitri chuckled at himself while I stare at the view outside.

"You know I can't" He said afterwards. I looked at him. He's also looking outside. His eyes were full of emotions. Emotions that I don't want to feel anymore. And then he looked at me with a sincere smile. I felt the familiar slight pain in my chest. NO. I hid my horror behind my well built mask.

"Four years. Now, You have a different life. I'm proud of you, I really do." He said while I mentally brace myself. I could certainly feel that one of my locks for my well kept hidden box full of void emotions, unlocked. NO. I can't let him know that his simple words affect me. "But selfishly, I just want you back." With that line, I felt my anger rise within me. How dare he? After all of the pain he put me through!

Repeating his words to him, I answered. "You know I can't" and I walked away.

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><p><strong>Dan-dan-dan-daaaaaaaa :)) I'm sorry for my sudden 8 months hiatus while not telling anything. I hope you enjoy reading this one. Again, sorry for the grammatical errors. I'm not going to promise anything but I will try my best to update every week until this story is done. I just happen to get back from writing because of all the notifications I got from making this story as your favorite one. Please review! I really appreciate that. Thank you!<strong>


	6. Chapter 6

As promised, two chapters for this day! Here's the next one.

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><p><strong>DPOV<strong>

"Uncle Dimka! Uncle Dimka!" I groaned as Paul wake me up. I looked at the clock. _7:00am_

"Is there a problem?" I asked worriedly as Paul looked at me intently.

"Momma said that there's a letter for you from the Court." I get up quickly, readied myself and jogged downstairs.

"Finally, you're up." Olena said and walked towards the living room. She picked up a white envelope and gave it to Dimitri.

Dimitri instantly knew that something's up. The court sends out letters to every academy to announce an important announcement and or incident. As he read the letter, he gasped in horror. The strigoi announced an all out attack at the court one month from now. The court advises all the academy to strengthen their wards and asks for at least three to five highly skilled guardians for added security at the court.

The letter is from the St. Vladimir Academy saying that the court gives five letters to each academy and they should give it to the corresponding guardian. Princess Vasilisa is staying at the court but plans to go back at the Academy before the attack happen.  
>Dimitri scheduled a flight back to the court right away. Even if it pains him to go away from Rose, the court needs him. They always comes first. As soon as this upcoming war is done, he promised to himself that he will find Roza again and make things right. If he's still alive by then.<p>

He's flight is scheduled tomorrow. He decided to look for Rose to at least say goodbye even if he knew that he didn't need to. First, he packed his clothes to get ready for tomorrow. He told his family about the problem at court and they ate their lunch. Even though they worry about him, they couldn't do anything about it.

He rented a car for a day and drove towards the St. Petersburg. He decided to look for Roza at the hotel were they held the party for her. When he came at the hotel, the staff told him that she's been out since morning. Now he doesn't have any idea where he would find her next.  
>He got inside his rental car parked across the street and seated for a moment, thinking of where else to go. He decided to go to the beach.<p>

When he started the engine, Dimitri saw the familiar red convertible that stop at the front of the hotel. The Valet boy immediately went to the side of the car to ask for the keys. Rose just shook her head and gave a white envelope at the valet boy. They talk for a short while and the valet boy bowed at her. Rose just smiled and started her engine and drove off.

_'Could it be the court's letter?'_ I asked myself. _'No. She's not a guardian anymore. She has a different life now.'_ At least now, that she has a different life from them, she's free from all the dangers of this life. Maybe it's just another letter from her university. '_Not all the white envelopes are from the court' _Didn't she just got a letter yesterday? I told myself and drove the car following Roza.

Following Roza is quite hard. With the kind of car she uses and how she drives, she easily speed off but I still managed to follow her. But the location she's going is not what I'm ready for. Even if I lost her, I knew the road myself so I slow down a bit. _'She can't be serious.'_ Why is she going to that place?

Even though I knew the place were Roza would go, I'm still surprised to find Roza's car here. Well, surprise is an understatement. Hell, this is the last place I would think to see her. It holds to much painful experience. This is were the bridge is located. Where I was supposed to kill her when I was still a strigoi. This is one of my nightmares that I don't think I'm ready to face yet. But if this is the only place where I can find Roza, I would do it for her.

I got outside and walked slowly and silently. Every step is like a dagger piercing in my chest. I stop by a tree, realizing that I've been holding my breath and have to catch it. It is starting to build up. After those years, I could still see the faces of the innocent people that I killed, the screams, the pleads before I took their lives. I was sweating heavily as I pant heavily. I can't do this. Not yet.

I was about to turn around when I see the familiar figure standing beside the river, looking at the bridge. How could I thought of going back? I have to do this for her. The pain never subsided but at least I found back my courage. I deserve this pain. So I continue to walk but the memories of me hunting her flooded. She never deserved the pain that I put her through. It is all my fault. I stopped walking. Near enough to hear her. Her back is still facing me.

"I never thought that you would actually follow me here." Roza said. I took a deep breath. I don't know what to say now.  
>I can't seem to remember why did I follow her.<p>

"I knew you were following me from the hotel. But as I said, I thought you would chicken out so I didn't mind." she continued. I walk to her side. I stood there, looking at the bridge. From the corner of my eyes, I saw Roza is holding a white rose. As if, sensing my curiosity, she knelled beside the river and drop the white rose at the stream.

"You know, here lies my naive and ever loving friend" she said. I felt a new pain in my chest. What is she saying? That the old Rose won't be ever be back? It feels like a sharp knife is cutting my heart slowly. I bowed my head. I never expected this one to be so much painful. I can't talk or say anything.

She sighed and got up. She walk in front of the bridge and seated again. I just looked at her in question. She patted her side so I decided to follow her and seat.

"You know, my friend was kind of a martyr." She said as I sit down beside her. I winced as she called herself _'friend'._

"She was madly in love with this man that she's willing enough to kill him herself just to save him from becoming a monster." She continued as if she's just having a story telling to a child. I can't even read her expression. I don't think I can listen for the whole story. I know the ending. I don't want to hear it.

"But also, she's willing to die for him." She added while shaking her head. "Oh this is the best part!" She said excitedly.

"Roza... I can't-"

"No. You. Listen. You came here, following me, taking my private time. Now, you have to put up with this." She said in a cold frightening voice. She's right. I stepped into her privacy, I deserve this pain.

"So here's the best part, when she was able to kill him, she died as well. Little did she know that he's not dead yet. So yeah, he was back to kill her. She found a new way to save him. To stop him from being a monster." She looked intently at the bridge as if trying to watch what was happening at it. "But then, after saving him, he pushed her away. He said that another person was that one who save him and that he doesn't feel the same way about her anymore." She paused and swallowed.

I know I was on the verge of crying. I know it's embarrassing and I could feel the lump in my throat.

"After that, she ran away. She went into this same bridge. Viola! She jumped to end her life."

I looked at her in surprised. Did she really tried to kill herself? Oh God, what have I've done to her. Putting her through so much pain.

"Sorry" I whispered.

"Hm? You don't like my story eh?" She said animatedly. "Well, maybe you're one of the people who believes in happy endings neh? I'm not. Happy endings are stories that doesn't end yet." She said calmly and get up. She walked towards where the cars are parked. I started to get up also when she stopped.

She turned around and I saw the old Rose. Her eyes are full of anger, hatred and hurt. I started to walk towards her. Even if she hates me, if this is the only thing I get as long as it is Rose, I would openly accept it.

"Roza..." I said and walked slowly towards her.

"I should have killed you" with that she turned around and walked away. While I am simply stunned as her words sink in me.

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><p><strong>OUCH! Now, Dimitri is in so much pain. D:<strong>

**What would happen at the next chapters? The Strigoi announced an all out war at the court!**

**Please Review! :) I know this is only a short chapter but don't worry I'll post another chapter on Wednesday :D  
><strong>

**DISCLAIMER: I own nothing. okay? :)  
><strong>


	7. Chapter 7

**Sorry for the technical problems. I accidentally made it into complete* story when it's not. I'm so sorry. I only updated some of the summary and the picture of it. Really, I'm so sorry. This story is not done yet! **

**For every review that I got, I got more and more inspired to write the next chapter. Thanks!**

**please visit my new blog, (completely unrelated)**

**scarlettie13 dot blogspot dot com**

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><p>ROSEKATHERINE POV

*Phone rings repeatedly*

I groaned as I turned over my bed and reach for my phone. I think it has been ringing for quite a while now. Just when I was about to answer the call, the ringing stopped. Ugh. I checked out who's calling me early in the morning. _'Don't they know about my party last night?'_ I thought as i opened my phone.

*7 missed calls*

'7 missed calls all from Michael and the other? What's with them?'

I got up from my bed and dialed the number of Michael. It only took a ring before he picked it up.

"Hey! Morning sleepyhead! We've been trying to call you!"

"Yeah... Figures... Is there a problem?" I muttered while going at the bathroom.

"I'm not quite sure if this is a problem"

"Then what it is?" I asked curiously.

"Can you go at the academy as fast as you can?"

"Uhmm... Yeah, sure. I'll be there in 30 minutes."

"Alright. See you."

I slept at the same hotel where I held my party last night. Abe insisted that I stay here instead of the Belikovs since he found out that I only slept at the sofa the other night. He's staying at the other room of this penthouse but I'm pretty sure that he's up already and he's at his office.

After she finished a quick shower, she grab some bread at the kitchen and went to Abe's office.

"Goodmorning old man!" I greeted happily as I enter the room.

"Ouch! I'm not that old yet." He said as he put his hands at his chest and acted like it hurts. "Besides that, I'm still hurt that you didn't invite me to the beach with the Belikovs yesterday." he added

"Yeah. I forgot you're a beach person" I said sarcastically while rolling my eyes at him and chuckled. Abe just laughed and shook his head.

"You're going out are you?" he said. I sighed. I know that since I got back from France, I haven't been able to spend some real time with him. For the past years, my relationship with my father turned into one of those 'ideal' (for me) father-daughter relationship.

"Yeah... Michael just called a while ago, he wants me to meet them at the academy." I explained while finishing my breakfast. "I was actually planning to spend this day with you, you know" I added with a wink. Abe just shook his head and chuckled.

"Fine. Just go ahead. You know I'm not going to stop you."

"I know that. I just want you to know. By the way, thanks for that party." I said and headed out.

I got into my baby (favorite car- red convertible camaro) and drove off, thinking of the possible reasons why Michael wants me to meet them at the Academy. We already have our plan for the hunting later at night. Did we have some conflict like change of locations? If so, why meet at the academy? Or, there might be a problem at the academy. But we're unpromised guardians and we're not supposed to meddle with it. I sighed, not knowing what the reason could be.

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><p>I parked the car and got out. Michael said that they were at the head guardian's office. <em>'Now everything's confusing' <em>I thought. When I entered the room, all of the guardians were there as well. They also look a bit confused and when they saw me, they got more confused. I could certainly read what's on their mind. It's like, _'What are they doing here?'_ or _'Why is the 'Power 5' here in this meeting'_ something like that. Well, newsflash, we also don't know. All eyes were set on me as I walk towards the empty seat next to Michael.

Mr. Borovsky, the head guardian of the Academy at Russia, cleared his throat to get our attention.

"Now that Miss Mazur is here, let's start this meeting." He started and got up from his chair to get something from his desk. We walked back at the front of his chair but he remained standing. "The court sent a letter at every academy across the world." he said while showing us six white envelopes. "The court said that there's an upcoming war by the strigoi one month from now." Everyone froze. No one dares to speak. "The court said that the Stirgoi announced that they will going to attack the court. This. Means. War." He concluded. _'What? He said what?'_

"If so, why would the strigoi announce their attack?" I asked not understanding the reason. All heads turn on me. They look to me like I sprout another head. I shrugged at them. "That's not how Strigois move. They always use the element of surprise" I added to reason out.

Borovsky smiled. "Good point Katherine, that's why there are two orders from the court". He said and paused as he closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. He opened his eyes and said, "The court wants us to strengthen our wards of the academy and our security. It might be a bluff and attack different academy instead of the court. And as for this five envelopes..." he said and showed us again the remaining five letters. "The court wants every academy to send them at least three to five highly skilled guardians to be added to their security". Different reactions are heard from everyone, mostly negative. Asking what about the defense of the academy. Everyone has their own opinion about the sending off of a guardian. Soon, the officer turned into chaos.

The five of us turned to look at each other, communicating without the words, only using our eyes. Anyway we don't need any words to say it out loud. We knew it. We knew why we were asked to join the meeting. We were the ones who will be send off. But why? We're not promised guardians! And as if to confirm our thoughts...

"Silence! This is not about your opinions about the decision of the court! This is about who are the guardians that would be send to the court!" Borovsky shouted and every one fell silent. "Now as I said, I will be assigning the guardians that will represent the Academy." he said in a calm voice. "Everyone is welcome to volunteer in this, as I believe, everybody in this room is a highly skilled guardian. However, I already have certain people in my mind." he said and turned his head to look at the five of us. Everyone else followed where the head guardian is looking. "The 'Power 5' as we mostly call them are all highly skilled and very experienced when it comes into hunting Strigois. They have a great tactics and can defeat a large group of Strigois all by themselves." he added to everyone.

"We're not promised guardians." Michael said. I could tell that he's already fuming inside but successfully hiding it with his guardian mask.

"Indeed, and that's also one of my reasons. See, everyone here except your group are promised guardians. They have duties and responsibilities inside the campus and sending them to the court would cause disorganized system. But you, on the other hand, don't have responsibilities in this academy and won't certainly affect the system of the academy if you were sent." Borovsky explained. "And again, you're all highly skilled guardians, promised or not, the court needs help. You're not called the Power 5 for nothing." he added. The other guardians agreed as well.

_'Is this what Yeva told me about?'_ I just had my license and now they want us to join the war. _'How's that for my career? I thought Yeva said that I have to make a choice? Why does it sounds like we don't have a choice?' _Wait. Borosky said that it has to be at least three to five person per academy which means the whole group doesn't need to go. I sighed. Even though I'm not always with them the whole time, I don't want to just let them go at the war without me.

"I'm in." Tyler suddenly said. We all looked at him as if he's gone crazy. Well, maybe he is. He felt that all of us are looking at him. "What? Isn't this what you want?" He said irritably.

"Great! Now be a good influence to your group and try to encourage them to join you. You'll be surprised at how famous your group is around the world." Borovsky said happily as he gave all the envelopes at Tyler. "Now, tell me if you have decided. Don't loose the letters. You'll need these as a pass at the court." He added and dismissed the meeting afterwards.

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><p>"I can't believe you just said yes." I said as we sit under a large tree. We were still at the Academy and just walking around the campus until we've decided to stop here.<p>

"It doesn't sound so bad. After the war, we would all go back into our lives like nothing happened. Come on! We're not called as The Power 5 for nothing! And besides, as long as we work together, we're almost invisible!" He reasoned.

"That's the problem. First, if we could still go back as alive. Second, we're ALMOST invisible, meaning we're still not." Michael answered in a calm manner.

Tyler sighed. "Fine. Just take this letter and think about it more. We still have some time. We're a family."

We all sighed in response and got each of our letter. The boys turned their heads at me as I get my letter, shocked.

"What?" I asked.

"Well, Kat, you just got your license. Are you sure you would want to join us? You don't have to pressure yourself." Michael asked me worriedly. They all know about my past life. Everything.

"Yeah, Michael's right. We won't mind if you decide not to go with us. Besides, it's the COURT" Sebastian said emphasizing at the word court. "Anyway, the court only needs at least three person." he added.

"I would think about it." That's the only response I managed to give and got the letter. After some time, "I know, but I just can't let you guys go at this war without me. Please don't out cast me." I said quietly.

"Awe... Our little princess..." They said in unison which quickly lighten the mood as I rolled my eyes.

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><p>I drove back to the hotel, I'm not sure what Abe's would think about this news. My mind drifted away to what Yeva told me yesterday. I have to make a choice. Really? Would I like to put myself in danger to fight for those Morois whom I don't even know nor even care about me? If I were still Rose Hathaway, I wouldn't think twice about it. But I'm not, I'm Katherine Mazur now.<p>

An idea popped into my mind, but first, I have to give this letter to Abe. We don't have to talk about this now. Give us some time to really think about it. I parked my car in front of the hotel. The valet boy comes quickly at my side of the car. I got out of my car but slowly shook my head. Instead, I gave the letter to him and told him to take the letter and give it to my father. He nodded and quickly went inside.

I got inside my car and drove towards my new destination. Every time I visit the Russia, I always visit this place to keep myself reminded at how far I have become. Now, I will go back to that place to do the same thing. The only difference is, how would I also feel about throwing all of these just for that stupid war.

I've only been driving for about five minutes when I noticed a black car trying desperately to catch up with me. I slowed down a bit to know who's following me.

Dimitri.

Great.

As if the court's order isn't bad enough to ruin my day, this guy would come to add more ruckus in my mind. But...would he be able to follow me? The destination I had in mind is something that would totally bring up the past. Is he up for that?

A few minutes later, I stopped the car and got a long stem white rose at the other seat before I got out. Who would have thought that four years ago, I tried to kill myself in this bridge. The same bridge where I also tried to kill Dimitri when he was still a strigoi. Yeah, I was that melancholic. True, I've decided to live a different life when I got out from the court. But the wounds are still fresh then, after that stupid stunt of mine, I totally felt like a different person. Like a reborn soul, a second chance to life. That's how Katherine Mazur truly created.

Dimitri wasn't here, I knew it. He can't manage to go here. I walked towards the bridge when I heard his car coming. I sighed and continued to walk. I stand motionless at the riverside. Thinking about the upcoming war. Just when I was about to go in a higher place in my career, this thing from my past would show up. And what about those people that I left at the court? Namely, Lisa and the others. They didn't care about me. Well, guess what? I don't either. It's only Adrian that I still got some connection because of the dreams. I'm surprised he hasn't said yet anything about the upcoming war. But anyway, we haven't been able to talk since I got here in Russia.

My train of thoughts were interrupted when I heard Dimitri coming. I sighed. I never thought that he would actually follow me. I voiced my thoughts while still facing the river. Dimitri didn't answer. I decided to tell my old life's story to him, referring Rose as 'my old friend'. I know this hurts Dimitri but what else would I do? He brought it to himself. He hurt me back then, he followed me here, don't expect that I come running to his arms. The only thing he does to me is that he's making it more difficult for me to make my decision.

I felt my anger rise within me as I relate my story but I masked it with such happiness, every word drips with sarcasm. I know I'm hurting him. He deserves it.

"Sorry." He whispered then it happened. I remembered all my suffering for him in a flash. From trying to live desperately when the Strigoi took him at the cave. When I discovered that he became a Strigoi and I tried to look at every places possible to find him. To kill him even if it kills me. To try to survive when he locked me up and believing that I finally killed him. Going back to living like a zombie because I thought he's really gone. For believing in such a crazy idea that Strigoi can still be saved. For doing and planning everything in motion, even letting Viktor Dashkov escape from prison and find his brother. For creating all these ruckus for nothing! Everything I did, it was all put in vain.

I couldn't take it any longer. I felt like I would explode from anger and decided that it is best to leave. I turned at him before I leave the place. "I should have killed you." I said with such animosity. Now it's decided. I'm pretty sure that Dimitri is one of the assigned guardians for the court. I promised for my old self, promise to Rose, that I, Katherine Mazur, would make sure that Dimitri Belikov would pay for those sufferings. He would have a life of a living hell.

And I know just how I would start my plans.

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><p><strong>TADAAAAAAH! Thank you very much for all the reviews! Just like what I promised! Please please please review more!<strong>

I'm sorry for one of my readers that I made such a mistake to change it into complete. It's unintentional. I hope you would still read my story. :(

**Anyway. I hope you guys like this chapter.** **It would all be about Katherine's revenge now! :) Do you think she would still be able to forgive Dimitri?**

**MORE REVIEW! TNX!  
><strong>


	8. Chapter 8

**WOW! I love reading your reviews. J) Some may not like Katherine, but please do understand that Rose had experience a lot of pain and turn her hurt into anger. That's normal human psychology if a person seeks for revenge to someone who hurt them. Anyway, I won't write this if I don't have better plans for it. Just stay tuned, I'm building up the story! Haha. It's only on the eighth chapter. Please don't have Katherine, I love her attitude! J) This is my first story so I don't want to get a beta reader yet. I want to do things on my own first. Hehe.**

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><p>DPOV<p>

Today is my flight. I'm going back to the court and I felt like a failure. The reason why I'm here is to visit my family after four years of torturing myself. I finally had the courage to face my family after turning back into a dhampir. But, of course, another selfish reason is to find Roza. I'm not expecting to find her nor expect her to come running into my arms again. I don't even know if I would find her, I've heard no more about Rose. Only, I have this feeling about the "Power 5" they're talking about. They're a bunch of promised guardians but called themselves as unpromised guardians. In short, they graduated as a guardian but chose not to do their responsibilities. If I ever see Roza again, I know she would just ignore me, hate me, and look at me like I'm the worst person on Earth. Well, I am or was.

But neither of them happened. Roza FOUND me, I didn't found her. Yes, she didn't come running into my arms again like I've expected but she didn't ignore me nor look at me with such hate. Instead, she looked at me like nothing happened, like I'm just another person she met in the world. I mean nothing. And that's what hurts me most. I don't even have a place in her heart. I'm nobody to her.

_'But that's Katherine'_ A small voice inside me whispered into my mind.

_"I should have killed you."_

I still remembered her words to me, her eyes burning with such hate. I know I'm getting crazy, being so hopeful when the love of my life just told me that she wanted to kill me. But I need to be optimistic right now. If she still hates me that much, I still have a place in her. I could still get my real Roza back. If only, I could get pass at Katherine.

That thought being in my mind, I got up from my bed and packed my clothes to prepare for my flight.

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><p>RPOVKPOV

_'Love fades, Mine does'_

I heard those words over and over again since last night. Love fades, Mine does. Well… wait until I'll said those words back at him. Let him know how devastating to hear those words from someone that matters the most. Just give me some time and I'll make sure everything would work out according to my plan.

I got up from my bed and got ready for the day. Today, I would talk about the upcoming war with my father. Not that I've made my decision, all I have to do is convince Abe on how sure I am about it. I sighed and got to his office.

He's at the dining area, eating his breakfast slowly, when I got out of my room. _'Oh this is really a serious talk'_ I thought. Abe rarely does this. I mean, of course he eats breakfast. What I mean is, him eating his breakfast at the dining area and clearly waiting for me to join him. He does this when we're about to have a serious talk. We talk about certain things like a normal family but the last time I had this is when I asked for his permission to let me hunt some strigois with the boys (Michael and the others) which is about three years ago.

"Finally, You're up." Abe said calmly without looking up at me. Crap! I can't read what's going on in his mind. I sat down quietly and began to eat my breakfast. We ate in silence.

"Why do you want to?" He said suddenly. I looked up at him in surprise. He stopped eating and looked at my eyes directly.

"I know you want to join the upcoming war. I know you still love the thrill of it. I also know that the Academy chose your group but you could always say no, and I know you know this one too. So I'm asking you why. You're Katherine now; you won't just follow an order from some dumb Morois. What good would this war give you?" He said calmly, trying to see my point even though I haven't said a single word yet. I am truly amazed at how he knew me very well. I sighed.

"I can't run from my past forever, Dad. Even though I want to, I can't. I'm not a coward anymore. I'm Katherine now and I will face it. Not that I would really start my career, I need a closure. And as for the war, it's a perfect opportunity and reason to go back at the court." I said truthfully.

"And Dimitri?" he asked while raising one of his eyebrows. I laughed.

"Well, Dimitri's another thing. I have these plans for him." I said with a wink. Abe just snorted and shook his head.

"Just make sure you won't hurt yourself again in the process, and what I mean by that is physically and mentally. If something happened, I swear I would go to that court without a second thought." He said after a while.

"Dad, we're called the Power 5 for a reason. If it's the war, I promised I'll be back alive and kicking someone's ass. As for Dimitri, I'm not the naïve Rose anymore. I can handle everything." I assured.

"Fine… You really are decided, eh? Just make sure that you keep your promises, okay?"

"I will. I won't go to the court until next week or so. I have to prepare things for work and my license. I'll just go to the Belikovs for now. I'll have a handful of things to do so I could bring my work to the court. Oh! And another thing, don't worry about Janine. I would certainly handle myself very well." I said happily while eating, feeling that the mood changed into a lighter one, knowing that Abe's one of his worries was done.

We finished eating and after it, I forced Abe to watch a James Bond movie with me at the living room even though I know I don't need to force him. We had these times that we have some small bondings that we both appreciate it. After the movie, Abe got back at his work while I made some calls to the Architectural firm I'm working at and made some arrangements about my schedule.

It's already part one in the afternoon when I drove towards the Belikovs. When I entered the house, I felt the gloom aura of everyone. When I was about to ask what's wrong, I saw two luggage bags at the side of the sofa.

Well… that confirms my guess. Dimitri's going to the war. No doubt about that. Olena said to me back then that Dimitri wasn't supposed to be back at the court until next week. But this sudden changes and the gloom aura of the family explains it. Everything's going according to my expectations; all I have to do is to set my plans in motion.

I looked myself in the mirror and smiled. I'm wearing my favourite outfit now; Black low cut high heeled boots, black skinny jeans, and bright violet tank top with a leather jacket on top. And my hair is back on its lovely ringlets. Ah… my Katherine's signature outfit. I can move freely and yet I look so hot.

I went into Dimitri's room with my mind concentrating on my newly set goal. This would be a lot of fun.

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><p>There you go! Chapter 8! I know it's a short one but I'm planning to post a somewhat Chapter 8.5? I always want to end every chapter with a bit of a cliff-hanger type. So yeah, I decided to cut if short but you don't have to wait for another week for the next mini chapter, it will be posted three days from now. I have a lot of things to do. This story, blog, studies, and my other hobbies... Please understand. :) That's all! REVIEW PLEAAAASE! I MISS READING THEM. That's what keep me going!<p> 


	9. Chapter 8-additional

**So here's the mini extension of the Chapter 8 as I promised. :) Please visit .com It's my blog! :) hope you like it!**

**Also! Don't forget to review! :( I didn't get as much review as the last time... :'(**

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><p><strong>DPOV<strong>

I heard a familiar click of the shoes coming to my room. I know it sounds crazy but I know the sound of her shoes, the smell of her hair, her fragrance, her choice of outfit. Katherine's choice of clothes is quite contradicting. You'd think that she works as an assassin or some hot drag racer rather than a professional architect. But, of course, she wears dresses when she has to. That's why it's quite contradicting. I sighed. I memorized every detail that I could get from her because I don't know how long it would be before I get to see her again after the war, or if I would be able to see her again. I sat at my bed and looked at the huge harp as I wait for Roza or Katherine to come inside my room.  
>I am extremely nervous as to why Roza would be here. I could still remember our conversation yesterday.<p>

*Knock Knock*

She knocked twice and without waiting for my response, she opened the door slightly and peered inside. She blinked at me a few times as if she's surprised to see me here and then by some miracle, she smiled shyly at me and slowly let herself in.

"I hope you don't mind." She said when she got inside. I wasn't able to respond. I'm sure my guardian mask just slipped and I look dumb at this moment. Roza looked down at the floor and fiddled with her ring as if embarrassed with the way I look at her. I cleared my throat and put back my guardian mask on. I pretended to do something with my books on the bedside table. I have no idea as to why Roza is here. But it's her attitude that really surprises me. It's somewhat bothering. Yesterday, she just said that she wanted to kill me. So, this is Katherine... But neither Katherine treats me nicely.

"Uhmm... I'm sorry if I bothered you. I just want to play the harp if you won't mind." She said looking at me with such concern. I nod at her, not trying to talk nor I want to. I got up from my bed and pretended to organize my books at the shelves. I can't look at her at this moment. Hours from now, I'll be in that plane going back to the court for a war and I don't even know if I would be able to see her again or not. The pain I'm feeling now is overwhelming. I don't care if it's Roza or Katherine as long as she's the woman I love. I stared dumbly at the shelf, thinking of how much I would meet this new person in my life.

The melody starts and all the emotions keep flowing on me. I don't know the song but instantly, it became my favorite one. I closed my eyes to feel the song more. When I think it's in the chorus, I turned slowly to see Roza. I can't help it. I need to see her again. This might be my last chance to see her again. I need to memorize every details of her face. She looks exactly the first time I saw her played the harp. The sun makes her skin and hair glow. She looks so peaceful as she plucks every string in the instrument. She looks like a goddess as she gently play the song like she's been playing it for years. Watching her felt like this is my lucky charm for my war. This is my gift from God. I'm very thankful, minutes before I leave for the flight, he sent me an angel playing a wonderful song for me.

I felt a bittersweet smile creep up to my lips. Another thing I'm very grateful for is Katherine Mazur, a successful architect, is not a guardian anymore. She doesn't need to be in this war. She has another life to live, one that is full of promises and gratefulness. At least, I'm contented that her life won't be in any danger every moment.

I sighed and went back to bed and continued to listen to her. I fully intent to watch her play this time.

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><p><strong>KPOV<strong>

After playing around three songs, I stopped and looked at Dimitri intently.

"Do you need a ride at the airport? I think you'll be late at your flight if you keep on watching me." I said with a smile. Dimitri looked at his watch and was surprised to see that it was already past two.

"Are you sure you want to give me a ride? I can always rent a car." He said politely. I rolled my eyes at him and stand up. I grabbed his hands and pulled him with me and quickly went downstairs. I let go of him when we reach the first floor, just in time when Yeva appeared. She looked between me and Dimitri and sighed.

"Be careful, my children." She said and then looked at me intently. Crap. I think she knows about my plan? I remained passive and kept my cool. She can't know about how affected I am. I won't going to change my mind. I've made my decision.

The rest of the Belikovs came and everyone took turns into saying their goodbyes and support for him. They didn't exactly said a word about the war. I remained silent at the side as I watched them. After everything, we place his luggage at the trunk of my car and leave. I kept my convertible top closed and then, we drove off.

The ride to the airport was quiet. The small sound of the radio is the only thing that you could hear. I peeked at Dimitri and see that his mind was wandering. I smirked as I put my favorite song when driving. I turned the volume louder and opened my convertible top. I smiled widely as the music perk up my mood. I peeked again at him and see that he as watching me with such amused eyes, my smile broaden. _'Every little details in my plan is happening smoothly'_

"You see, you don't have to get so sad if you're going back to work." I said, secretly implying that I've got no idea on why is he coming back. He smiled gently and looked away. I smirked, _'What now, Dimitri? Haven't you always said that they always comes first?'_.

"Yeah... Maybe I'll just missed this." he said silently.

"Oh! everyone loves my company. I'm always in demand." I said with a laugh and winked at him, trying to make him laugh. Dimitri just sighed and shook his head while smiling, all the more reason to make me laugh at him. It was a carefree laugh, the one I've been practicing to show people for years.

We arrived at the airport shortly and I accompanied him inside. He stopped and looked at me directly when we reached at the checking of the passport. This is as far as I could go.

"Thank you. I know I don't deserve any of this." he said sincerely.

"What are you talking about? I just gave you ride and you're talking about you being deserving or not." I said lightly as I smiled at produced a heavy sighed.

"I keep on forgetting that you're Katherine now. I am really glad to meet you and giving me a chance to know you." he said.

"Nah... I don't think giving you ride is giving you a chance to know me." I said as I laugh. "But... So am I, Dimitri. I am glad to finally meet you." I added as I suddenly skipped and kissed him on his cheek quickly. Dimitri just stared at my, dumbfounded.

"Until next time, Comrade." I said and winked. I turned without waiting any response from him and walked away.

_'Just wait until next time and I would surely give back your words to me, Mr. Lovefades.'_

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><p><strong>I'm<strong>_  
><em>


	10. Chapter 9

**AUTHOR'S NOTE:**

I'm sorry it took me so long to update this. I've been very busy with my studies and stuffs but now, we're having our Christmas break so I'll try to update more chapter as I could. Anyway, here it is! Enjoy and don't forget to give a little review as a holiday gift for me. :)

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><p><strong>DPOV<strong>

It has been a week since I got back from Russia. The court has been in ruckus since then. There are lots of guardians came from different academies. There are also guardians from famous Morois who offer some help. All of the guardians from different academies are all here except for one. Now, a help from the academy of Russia will arrive this morning. This completes the defense of the court from the upcoming war. There are rumors that my alma mater sent the infamous "Power 5".

Power 5 is a group of promised guardians who chose not to do their responsibilities. They completed the education and training. They even had their graduation and their mark but chose not to be part of the guardians. They hunt strigois whenever they want to. Sure, they sound just childish like what most of the unpromised guardians do. What made them so famous is that they only hunt once in a while but when they do, they would finish every single strigoi in a pack. They're the group that most Strigois afraid of. They hunt around the world when they only felt like it. Having them is already a great addition to our defense, only if the academy isn't bluffing.

I forgot to look for their group when I was in Russia. Back then, I suspected that Roza was with them because this is what she did when she was looking for me when I became a Strigoi. But, I met Roza and she has a very different life now as Katherine.

I touched my cheek where Katherine kissed me. I smiled; I know I looked like a foolish teenager. It's been a week and I could still feel how her soft lips placed a gentle kiss on my cheek, how her scent envelops me and much to my confusion, I like it. I know that it's not Roza who kissed me and that's the reason why I'm confused. I'm making myself fool out of it and I'm pretty sure Katherine doesn't like me. But I do like her, from the day I met her, her company, her attitude, her laugh and even the smirk. It felt like she's bringing a fire back into my life.

This is really what confuses me. Katherine and Roza is just the same person with different personality. I know I'm feeling something for Katherine but does that mean I'm moving on from Roza? But then Katherine is Roza, or maybe I'm just feeling something for Katherine because she is Roza and not because she's Katherine. I sighed and laughed at myself. Why do I have to think for these things? She has a different life now. She's nowhere near my life and I feel completely contented with that. I don't have to think about these feeling. She's safe and happy. I would rather it that way rather than she's near me and all of these dangers despite the fact the she's been a great guardian but she's an architect now.

I made another sigh and got up from my bed. I need to get ready for the day. We have to escort the last group of guardians from the airport. Let's see if the rumors are true, that the academy managed to bring the Power 5 and if it is, we'll see just how tough they are at fighting just like what people said about them.

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><p><strong>KPOV<strong>

"You're pretty sure about this, huh?" Abe said as he drove us to the airport. Today is flight. I've already fixed everything at my job. I just had to do some plates in my laptop and email it to the company. Most of my clients are famous Morois who lives in the real world. Well, I don't fast growing name because of my pure talent. It is all thanks to my father with such huge connections. Most of my Moroi clients knew nothing about my past though, of course, they knew I'm a dhampir but that's it. All in business and I want to keep it that way. I wonder how far my name got up from the Moroi society. Abe told me that I've been making such a huge name and I trust his words. My father isn't the one who exaggerates things.

"Trust me." I simply said to him. Abe just nod. He rarely drives his own car but whenever he does it means something personal to him. I felt like a child being sent to school by her parents. I smiled. Even though he doesn't admit it, he wishes such small normal things to happen.

Michael and the other are at the back seat of the AUV, relaxed like we're not going into a war. Tyler and Sebastian are sleeping. It's only 2am so we'll be at the court by morning. The court said that they'll send guardians to escort us.

Until now, I can't really believe that the five of us is coming. Every one of them said that I don't have to; of course, I managed to go with them anyway. Though, Michael isn't happy about my decision, he's somewhat frustrated and doesn't want to talk to me. Yeah, sometimes, he's being the childish one, instead of me.

We got to the airport and went to the private plane location, courtesy of the court. It feels like we're a Royal Morois rather than their pawns for the war. I laughed bitterly; maybe that's how they treat all other guardians. Making them feel important as a compensation for using us as their shield. That's the reality. _'That's how Morois really are!' _I thought as we got inside the plane after saying goodbye to Abe.

I felt my past anger coming back. When I was still Rose, they did nothing but used me and I follow blindly at them. But now, that's not the case anymore. I'll be back to get my little revenge. I've been plotting my plans for years. _'Now's the right time.'_ I thought as I fell asleep for the entire flight.

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><p>"Wake up, Sleepyhead!" Tyler nudges at me.<p>

_"Please put on your seat belt. We're about to land…"_

"Oh come on! I haven't tasted those drinks yet!" Matthew complained as the waitress gets his drinks.

"Please, it's only 10 in the morning." Michael said in an annoyed matter.

"Yeah…Maybe. But I'm pretty sure that's not the time in Russia. Body clock, you know." He answered back. Their bickering lasted for a few minutes, enjoying our little bubble before the prying eyes of the court annoyed us. Even if we gave our help, we can't still denied that fact that we're unpromised guardians. We're already discussed about the war but that's it. No 'personal slaves' and/or such for the Morois.

As the plane landed, I saw the familiar SUV from the court and waiting outside it, is the famous Russian God guardian with the other guardians as well.

_'If it isn't my luck day' _I thought as a smirk spread out from my lips.

"What are you smirking about?" Matthew asked as they got up from the seats and looked out from the window.

"Ah…Mr Lovefades." Michael answered. I winked at them, suggesting that I have plans for him. Tyler just laughed and shook his head. They don't know much about my plans but they know enough that I'm plotting something for him. We got outside of the plane and was greeted by the other guardians. Dimitri, on the other hand, was frozen to his place. I chose to ignore him for a while. I know he needed some time to process this inside of his head. Though I'm pretty sure what kind of reaction will I get, judging by his looks, he's frustrated with me.

I saw him put his guardian mask from the corner of my eye and walked towards us. Game on!

* * *

><p><strong>DPOV<strong>

Surprised is the understatement of the year id I described how I felt when I saw the 'Power 5' got out from the plane. I felt like I'll have a heart attack when the last person from the group got out. Katherine. Why is she here? She's supposed to be an architect! She's supposed to be having fun from her new life! What is she doing here?

Why haven't I realized it from the moment I saw them? I felt an incoming fury within myself but I masked it and walked towards them. I greeted them casually while not making an eye contact with Katherine. All of my male co-guardians are obviously drooling for her. I'm pretty sure they knew about Rosemarie Hathaway but don't know how she looks like. I heave a sigh mentally. I hope Katherine or Rose knows what she's doing because showing up after some years without any contact would certainly cause a ruckus. What is she planning to do? Maintain her name as Katherine Mazur or use Rosemarie Hathaway instead?

* * *

><p>The rest of the guardians are waiting for our arrival as we got out from the car. They introduced themselves and admitted that they are the famous group we we're talking about.<p>

Alberta, our current leader, led us to the central park of the court where our 'welcoming act' happens. There are lots of people who watch this act, even the morois. It's considered as a ritual when there's a new group of guardians being sent from the academy. What's the welcoming act? Each of the newcomers would be engaged to a duel with the other guardians as a display of their skills. It's also a way of ensuring the morois of our abilities to keep them safe and also, a way of entertainment for them.

Alberta told them the mechanics of the duel and asked the new group who wants to go in first. Matthew raised his hand and walked at the center. Alberta then asked us who wants to volunteer as his duel partner. A lot of us raised their hands, excited to see how good this famous group is.

The fight started with a silence, each of them waiting to attack each other. But Matthew suddenly looked bored, dropped his stance and turned his back on his opponent. This made his opponent angry and attacked him. Matthew made no move but suddenly, like a flash of lightning, his opponent is now pinned on the ground by him. He acts as if he staked a strigoi in his heart and got up and came back to his group. The rest of the Power 5 looked bored just like him but the rest of the guardians and the crowd are shocked by what they saw. It is indeed an amazing speed and strength.

Alberta cleared her throat, recovering from their shock and asked for another pair. This time, Michael raised his hand andmade his way at the center. I suddenly felt a weird feeling inside of me and remembered how he talked about me and Roza. All the crowds looked at me in shock.

Confused at their reaction, I suddenly realized that my hand is raised.

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><p><strong>Dandandandaaaaaaa... It's gonna be Michael vs. Dimitri! So, who do you want to win in this duel? Is it Michael or Dimitri? What will be Rose' reaction to this? REVIEW REVIEW!<strong>


	11. Chapter 10

**I know it is said that this is a Rose and Dimitri fanfic and it is. Just give me some more time. I have to build up the story. If I change back Katherine into Rose immediately, it wouldn't make any sense. We can't put the happy ending now. Where's the fun in that? I write every detail, every moment for a reason. I hope you guys understand. And as I said, It. Is. A. Rose-Dimitri. Fanfic. Just wait and enjoy the story! Patience, my dear.**

* * *

><p><strong>Michael's POV<strong>

As I stood at the center of the park, where my childish duel would be held, the leader asks for a volunteer to be my opponent. It bores me out, really, but as they said, every new comer needs to do it. I sighed, and I heard a collective sound of murmurs and small gasps. I looked around to see the reason of their reaction and there it is. The famous guardian, The Russian God, Dimitri Belikov, raising his hand though he looks quite off of himself. He even look surprised as the leader announced his name as my opponent.

Dimitri regained his composure as he walk towards the center as well. They were in the middle of the park, surrounded by a circle of crowd composed of guardians and some Morois. A while ago, Michael was bored and doesn't really care about any of this. Now, he still doesn't care. Why would he? Morois don't care about them. They're only used as a shield without even any gratitude.

After all, they're only interested with him because he was the top his batch. Until now, he still receives some offers from famous Morois even if he repeatedly rejects them. So why is he here? Simple, his only family is going to this stupid war, the Power 5. They're the only ones he got.

Dimitri stopped a few meters from him. Now, things are getting exciting. He could feel his heart pumping adrenaline to his veins. He always love the fight, the rush, but what's different with fighting Dimitri is that he could feel another emotion rising. Jealousy.

Dimitri is three years older than him. He has always been the top of class. He could always kick someone's ass even if his opponent is older than him. Talented, Smart, Famous, even when Michael is the top of his class, he never got the chance to fight with him back then. He never became a popular one until Dimitri graduated and leave the academy.

Dimitri always gets everything that Michael wanted. He had Rose but he just broke her heart with his lousy excuse. He has his own family that really loves him dearly. And above all, he once has Michael's family and he just let them die. He's the reason why I became so lonely back then. But now, I have Katherine and the rest of the Power 5. I'm not going to give up on them. They're the reason why I'm here anyway.

I felt my fury wiring within me, but I masked it with my own unique guardian mask. I'll make sure I will make him humiliated in front of this people.

* * *

><p><strong>RPOVKPOV**

As the leader announces both Dimitri's and Micheal's name to the crowd, I saw Michael put on his _'modified' _guardian mask, as he calls it. He always uses this to annoy Strigoi in a fight. He presents himself as a lousy, jerk, douche bag unpromised guardian who only knew how to boast himself. He let them to be underestimated when in reality, he's our leader. He says it makes thing easier and it is. He's the one who thinks of different tactics and that is one of our techniques. We always act like we don't really care compared to the usual guardians who always look cautious and calculating. That way, it makes our opponent lower their guards as they saw how lousy we are at fighting.

Though, I'm not sure if Dimitri would take the bait. He's not someone who will lower his defenses just because of our looks. Besides, they knew we were the Power 5, of course he would take this seriously. We weren't undefeated just because of our lousy appearance; we do have skills and tactics. This would be so entertaining. I'm can't even tell who's going to win. Russian God, my mentor, who's very famous around the world because of his highly, trained skills and concentration. When it comes to experience, I'm pretty sure Dimitri is far greater than Michael. Even though we hunt some strigois, Dimitri is always on his job while Michael is mostly at the beach. After four years, I'm not even sure if he improved or not (if there's even more room for it).

The leader announces the start of the fight. Dimitri made his stance while Michael still stood casually but I saw something different with Michael. He might appear to be bored and cocky to everyone except from the rest of our group. Of course, we could tell that he's not bored. He's excited and… angry? I've never seen Michael fighting when he's angry, would this be an advantage to him or not?

* * *

><p><strong>DPOV<strong>

Michael isn't moving from his place. He just smirked at me as he waits for my attack. _'How could they kill a strigoi with this? They act like they're the strigoi not hunter.'_ I asked myself confusedly. _'Are they really the Power 5?' _I looked at Roza quickly to see her reaction. She also looked at me, tilts her head playfully and smirked. _'It's a trick!'_ I felt a blow at my nape and my knee. I fell on the ground and almost blackout from the attack. I immediately stood up and turned around to see Michael. He's too fast that I wasn't able to see him move when I looked at Roza. This is my fault. I lowered my defenses and didn't concentrate.

"My… My…The Russian God isn't paying attention. Where did your lessons go?" Michael taunt at me. Everyone is murmuring. I'm not going to fall for this childish trick twice. Michael started to pace back and forth while looking at me, like a parent scolding his child with just giving him a look. No matter how odd his techniques are, I'm not buying it. I advance at him quickly, aiming for his chest. But Michael stood on his ground and smirked.

My vision became clouded and I almost stop my attack but I still continue blindly. The blow I took earlier at my nape and my sudden movements affect my vision. I felt another blow at my stomach.

"This is being fat too easy, Dimitri" Michael whispered at me. My vision came back seconds after he attacked me. I turned slowly to Michael who is at the center again. Now I'm going to fight without limiting myself.

* * *

><p><strong>RPOV<strong>

The fight between Michael and Dimitri is becoming… boring. Michael is just playing with Dimitri now. How could he look at me in the middle of the fight, anyway? That's too sloppy of him. He's the one who taught me to concentrate on my opponent. Now, look who's being distracted? Maybe he became negligent after those four years and I expect too much from him.

Dimitri came for a fast attack to Michael, but he almost stop, and instead Michael game him a counter-attack in his stomach. The crowd is having collective murmurs. Their Russian God is getting beaten by another Russian man. This is getting depressing for the others. Is your reign being the Russian God is over, Dimitri?

And then it happened.

Dimitri, turned around and I saw how serious he is now. I guess the real fight would start now? Or he's just pissed by what's happening to him. He prepare himself as he stance again, calculating his next move, forming a new tactic. Then, he moved so damn fast that we won't be able to keep up with his moves without our keen sight. It's still actually hard to keep up even we have a definite vision. He executes series of attacks and Michael is blocking it blow by blow.

Everyone is quiet, all focused on their fight. The crowd is getting bigger, hearing the news about the arrival of the infamous Power 5. It's like we're watching a kung fu fighting movie. The atmosphere is getting intense every second, not sure who's winning and who's losing. Michael would also give a consecutive combination of his attacks and Dimitri would give counter-attack which Michael parries.

Dimitri aimed for Michael's head and suddenly, Michael change his stance and gave him a counter-attack which landed on Dimitri's chest. Everyone gasp in surprise as finally one of their attacks hit another. Dimitri took a few steps backwards. They stop attacking each other. Taking the time to rest and calculate his next move to defeat his opponent. Michael, on the other hand, is not wearing his _'modified'_ mask now. He's just wearing a normal guardian mask now. Not giving any clue to Dimitri.

People are silently placing their bets. Who's going to win, the famous Russian God, Dimitri, or the leader of the infamous group, Michael?

This time, Michael didn't wait for Dimitri's next attack. He moves just as quickly as Dimitri was. He was now, the one who will give a series of attacks but unlike Michael, Dimitri decided to give a counter-attack in his first blow. But after he was able to block it, he was surprise by Michael's move. His first attack was just a diversion and Michael grappled him on the ground. A while ago, we we're like watching a kung fu scene now, it's like UFC fight. Dimitri tried to change his positioned when he was about to fall, to no avail.

He was pinned down but as they fall on the ground, Michael looks like he murmured something to Dimitri and smirked. Michael got up abruptly.

"I give up!" Michael suddenly announced. Everyone except from us is surprised. Well, he's always like that. He likes to annoy people with that, leaving them hanging. When he doesn't want to do something, he's not going to do it properly. He will only make you believe that he will follow what you wanted him to do. But really, he'll just do it for you to annoy you. And this _'ritual' _these guardians have, annoys Michael too much. Just when things are getting so exciting, when people are having what they want, he would take it from you. That's how Michael is and that's what I learned from him.

"You can't do that! What if he's a strigoi? You're just going to give up your life?" The leader said exasperatedly.

"He's not, so I am giving up. Anyway, I still have my jetlag and I'm not really in the moor for any of this." Michael answered back while walking towards us. Dimitri got up, not showing any emotions, just patting his clothes from the dirt of the ground.

"You're disrecpecting our ritual!" The leader continued getting angrier every second.

"I'm not. You still have the result. I gave up, Dimitri is your winner." Michael answered coolly. The leader started to walk towards Michael. "What's the point? You asked for our help for this war, not to just entertain people here." Michael said seriously. The leader stopped from his tracks and look at him intently.

"We didn't ask for you. We asked for help from the St. Basil's Academy." He said silently.

"And WE are the help from the St. Basil's Academy." Michael added as he rejoined our group and took a seat beside me. The leader stood there for a moment and then walks back to his place a while ago. He announced Dimitri as the winner and asks for the next fighters.

"If you guys don't mind, I'm going next. I just want to get over with this." Tyler said and went on the center.

"Sure, go give them a clean fight." I said and chuckled. The fight went on quickly with Tyler, Matthew and Sebastian which of course, were a clean win. I decided to go as the last to fight and be entertained. I don't want to fight too bored. The fight between Sebastian which is fast and simple just like everyone is now over.

I stood up and walk towards the center. I smirked, good thing I wear my favorite outfit, black leather jacket, tank top, tight jeans and black high-heeled ankle boots. One might say that it's not a combat outfit, no scratch that, everyone says that about my chosen outfit. But I swear, it is comfortable and I can move freely.

I waited for my opponent. The leader asks who wants to volunteer as my opponent, a lot of female guardians and a few male guardians raised their hand. I would gladly kick someone's ass today. The flight was so long and I would happily accept the little entertainment they offer.

The leader was about to choose my opponent when a sudden female familiar voice shrill out.

"I am!..your next opponent!"

I sighed, I don't have to look, I knew her instantly. The crowd almost gave a violent reaction but chose to contain themselves and murmured to each other. The leader looks like he doesn't know what to do. Well, if I were him, I also wouldn't know what to do.

Again, I sighed heavily and turned towards where the voice came from. There it is, Vasilisa Dragomir, walking towards me, looking fierce and all. I smirked.

"Finally! The person I've been waiting for is here! But you see, my princess, this is a duel. You want a cat fight from me?" I said sarcastically. Lisa just kept on walking towards me without saying anything. She stops in my front and then… she slapped my face. Newsflash! I knew it was coming. I expected it. I sighed.

"You see, the leader hasn't announced the start yet." I said annoyingly and looked at Lisa straight into her eyes. "I'm tired of this." I said and slapped her too without remorse. Lisa holds her face with such surprise. I rolled my eyes at her. Her guardians started to attack me while the other blocked her.

I evade them with ease and gave them a final blow to stop this ruckus. All of her five guardians are now lying on the floor, unable to move.

"What a pity. Your guardians are all mess, Princess." I said and took a bow. I walked back to my team and act like nothing happened. We're not done yet, Lisa.

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><p><strong>Sorry if I wasn't able to update for weeks! Something came up and I can't write my next chapter. A lot of things will be open between Michael and Dimitri, how Michael became so jealous of Dimitri. I will write about it for the next chapter. And this is my first time to write a fight scene. I wish it was good enough though. I made Michael gave up for a reason, not just to annoy people and my readers. Remember, Rose said that she saw Michael murmured something to Dimitri before he gave up. Stay Tuned! Reviews please!<strong>


	12. Chapter 11

Hey guys! I know it's been a while since I updated this story and I want to say sorry to everyone for this. I have to concentrate on my studies and all. Fortunately, it all paid off. Now, I have to continue this story! So I hope you still want it… :/ Anyway, no more talking! Here it is! Enjoy! And please don't forget to give me some loves :" namely, reviews hihi…

DISCLAIMER: Again, I don't own the Vampire Academy.

Everything is in ruckus after what happened. Everyone is in motion, guarding the Morois, doing their stance, waiting for another blow as the brunette woman slapped a certain blonde woman. Given the nature of the guardians, they instantly jump towards the scene to protect the blonde Moroi, especially if the said blondie is actually a princess. It is their duty to protect the Moroi from any danger; five other guards attacked the brunette woman in a second. The brunette sighed and in one swift yet graceful motion her attackers is just lying on the ground in another second. The other guardians stop dead in their tracks, shocked in what they just saw. Though nothing worse happened after the scene, the guardians stood closer beside the blonde woman, both women just stood on their ground looking fiercely at each other. Everyone could feel the tension thickening in the air.

Not far from this scene, a certain man with a messy dark chestnut brown hair with deep emerald eyes is watching the scene with such fascination. He watched as how the brunette cut the tension with just a smirk and leaned sideways on her other foot. She crossed her arms, said something to their audience and walked away with her team. As the tension died, he started walking away from the scene, smiling and muttering something to himself.

**RPOV/KPOV**

"Aweee! Come on! Is that how you treat a guest?" I said and pouted at them. The guardians haven't still moved from their places after I kicked the asses of some guardians. "Oh well…" I shrugged. "I guess that's it?" I asked as I checked my nail polish, worrying that it got chipped in the process. After checking that everything is fine, I looked up again. Everyone is dumbstruck. I sighed. "I think we're done here!" I announced to everyone and turned to face Lisa, the bitch princess. "I have to go now, Princess Dragomir. You know, jet lag and all." I said and bowed gracefully. My team and I started to walk towards the building, heading to where we left our luggage. We asked where we should stay. Turns out, they haven't decided yet where they would put us after the stunt I pulled, still deciding if we're a liability or an asset to them. I huffed in annoyance as we waited in the reception area.

"It's our first day and we've made a loooot of friends already." Tyler said in annoyance after waiting for almost 30 minutes and still no news about our place to stay. Sebastian just laughed quietly.

"Well, we're that good at giving a great impact in first impression." Matthew answered coolly. "You know what they say, first impression counts" he added. The boys except for Michael kept the small talk going. No one talked about the ruckus happened between me and the bitch princess, knowing perfectly well that that is off the limits. Michael, on the other hand, doesn't seem to really care about my border line nor off-the-limits topics right now. He may not be talking but he's making it up damn too well through boring his eyes on me.

"What?" I asked him irritably. Michael just raised his one of his eyebrows and smirked at me. I rolled my eyes at him while the rest of the team grew quiet, sensing another tension coming. I inhaled deeply and sighed. "What am I supposed to do? I finally had the chance to slap that bitch right in front of everyone." I said with a shrug and look at each of them. They are still having giving me their straight face which means it's still not enough. I groaned in annoyance.

"Fine, I'm not sorry for what I did but for all it's worth, I am sorry it caused us this." I said indicating our situation, our asses being stuck in this stupid reception area, not sure if we we're even gonna get a room or sent back to Russia. Everybody grinned at me as I finished my apology, a grin that I'm not much of a fan. This means that I would surely pay a price for them now.

"Oh Kat, relax! This one is simple." Tyler said as they recognize the cautiousness in my facial reaction.

"Yeah. You'll just have to pull some strings and make them provide us a great place to stay here." Michael said as innocent as he could.

I gaped at them. "You really do believe that it's that simple?!" I asked them incredulously. Sometimes they forgot that my father is the one who got to pull the strings not me.

"You'll just have to ask _sweetly _to your Daddy!" Sebastian said while smiling at me. I rolled my eyes and got up. I stomped my feet, walking towards the exit and make an international call.

_Ring. Ring. Ring._

"_Hello?" _a grumpy voice answered at the end of the line.

"Daddy?" I asked tentatively. I heard a heavy sighed.

"_Oh great… You just called me Daddy. You only call me that when you need something from me."_ Abe said and groaned.

"Come on Abe… Something happened and we don't have a place to stay here. I'm gonna explain to you later. Just now, I think we're not welcome here." I explained hopefully.

"_Alright, just promise me you'll all come back in one piece and breathing._" He said and hangs up.

They were all waiting for me when I got back inside. I gave them a shrug, indicating that I tried.

"Nah… We'll take that as a yes." Tyler said. I rolled my eyes at him and went back to my seat.

A few minutes later, another guardian came up whom we presumed as one of the leaders of royal court guards. He introduced himself as Charles Smith, second in command. He has a neatly combed blonde hair, green eyes that bores at anything or anyone he looks at. He still has his guardian mask on but he looked ragged based on how his clothes look a little disoriented.

Charles cleared his throat. " Even after the trouble your team have caused," he began, though he obviously doesn't like what he's saying "…you have proved your incredible skills to the rest of the audience earlier which means to say, that we are willing to accept the help from a _'special case'. _Please follow my assistant to show you where all the guardians stay." Another guardian appeared by his side and bowed slightly but no one is making a move.

Charles look at us, confused. "What?"

"Oh nothing… we just have a question." Tyler answered nonchalantly. Charles knitted his eyebrows, waiting for our question.

"So… special cases?" Sebastian cringed up his nose while he repeated himself. Charles closed his eyes and breathes deeply.

"Your team are NOT exactly a guardian but NOT completely unpromised guardians as well because of what you DO." He explained and opened his eyes after. I sighed heavily as I heard his explanation. No one said anything afterwards so we got up and walk towards our luggage. Just when we're about to leave, a woman was running towards us.

"Wait!" she yelled as she approached us. "Anton ordered for them to stay at the residential area, east side." She said as she catches her breath.

"What?! But that's for the Morois!" Charles' assistant blurted out. "Are you sure about this?" he asked the woman again. The woman just nodded in return. "Why are they getting such special treatment?!" he asked incredulously.

"Uhh… Cause we're special case?" Tyler answered him with such innocent face. The assistant just glared at him and Tyler just raised his arms in mock defeat.

"Stop your ranting. We got the order." Charles suddenly said in clear voice and started to walk in different exit.

"Come on, man. You should follow your order." Sebastian said as he tapped the guy's shoulder when he didn't make a move. The guy just sighed and followed Charles.

"And that's our cue to leave! Thank you, pretty lady!" Michael said and winked at the woman.

The house is beautiful in its own way. It may not be as grand as the other houses around but it suggests the feeling of coziness and comfort. It's a two-storey house and caused a whining from the guy before he and Charles left us. We went inside and checked the area.

"Wow! Your Dad really pulled some strings. Heard the whiney guy talking about the special treatment and all?" Matthew said in awe.

"Uhhh… guys, there's only four bedrooms here. Two of us would share a room." Tyler said as he got down from the second floor.

"No. We do it just like our hunts. We should take turns and guard the house while everyone is sleeping and change turns every two hours." I said as I looked at everyone.

"But Kat, this isn't like our hunting trips." Matthew groaned. "There are wards protecting this area." He added.

"And there's an upcoming war." I answered back. The rest nodded in agreement, one of the reasons why our team never failed is because we never lower our guards. We might not have an idea on how the strigois would attack the royal court but we can't let our guards down.

"It's settled then." Michael said signalling our routine before we settle ourselves. Everyone moved in to check the details of the house, looking for possible entrance and exits, weakest part of the house regarding security, blind spots, views from the windows, furniture of the house, and the perimeter of the area. By the time we're done, it was almost twilight. We had our early dinner and called it a day. Tyler would normally start the guarding so the rest of us started to retreat in our assigned rooms for tonight.

**Michael's POV**

As I went to my designated bedroom upstairs, I'm actually hoping that there would be no nightmares tonight though I knew perfectly well that after my fight with Dimitri, that wouldn't be the case. Don't get me wrong, I'm not afraid of him, I just remember someone from him.

"Hey… You okay?" Katherine asked while looking intently at me, gauging my reaction. I chuckled. "Just jet lag. It's not every day that I ride a plane, unlike you." I said as I winked at her and walked inside my room. I know she's annoyed at my answer but I can't deal with it right now. I heard her sighed after a few minutes and went to her own room. I guess I would be sleepless tonight which I'd rather have than a sleep full of my own personal hell.

**KPOV/ RPOV**

I watched as Michael close his door and sighed. It's no secret that Michael doesn't like any of this. He despises the Moroi community at all. Since the arrival from the airport, he's been acting so weird. There's a gloomy aura around him, not that we can actually see it but we knew him enough what he feels despite his nonchalant attitude. Problem is, we don't know why nor what's the reason but we respect each other's privacy so we kept our mouth shut and wait until he would voluntarily say it himself.

I turned around to face the other side of the corridor where my room is located. I walked inside and got some change of clothes before I go to sleep. I took a quick shower and hope that the exhaustion I feel is enough to get some decent sleep before it's my time to guard the place. I felt my eyes started to droop after almost an hour of just lying on the bed. I guess I'm lucky tonight as the sleep came to me… or not…

I found myself sitting in a park just in front of the building where I used to study. She knew this place by heart. Everything is just the same as it was except, there were no student around.

"I always thought that this place is just as plain and doesn't really portray the beauty it should." A familiar voice said from my back, walking slowly towards me. I smiled instantly the second I heard his voice. "But seeing it from your point of view… I must admit, it is really beautiful." He added as he sat beside me. We just sat in front of the Arts Building in UBC were I finished Architecture. We just look at it for a few minutes, grinning from ear to ear, until we slowly turn to each other.

"Hey Kitty."

"Hey Adrian."

"It's nice to have you back."

TADAAAAAAAAA ! Our summer vacation started! Yeeeey! I also missed Adrian! I'm thinking of creating a fanfic for Rose and Adrian after this story.


	13. Chapter 12

**And here's the next chapter! But just to answer some question, no. This is NOT a friendship fanfic between Dimitri and Rose. It's a Romance fanfic between them. I just have to build up the story yet. Just wait and enjoy the story.**

**Please don't forget to post your comments below. Have a nice day and I hope you enjoy reading this!**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything, just the Power 5 :)))**

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><p><strong>DPOV<strong>

Everyone was talking about what happened earlier. Princess Dragomir was attacked by one of the members of the infamous group called, The Power 5. Unknown to most of the people, the said member is not just a 'member', she was supposed to be the Princess' bestfriend and her name is Rosemarie Hathaway. They only knew that Katherine Mazur, the only female member of the said group attacked the last heir of the Dragomir Family. They have forgotten about Rose, only those who are close to her, know her true identity.

I trailed behind Lissa, knowing how frustrated she is by what happened. She's fuming inside and refused to talk to anyone until she got back to our place. Christian is getting a bit nervous every minute, knowing that Lissa could burst any minute. Eddie and I just shot him a sympathetic look and put our guardian mask quickly. As soon as Lissa got inside their room, she yelled in frustration and almost tore her hair by pulling too much. Ever since Rose left, Lissa was dealing with her emotions and dark aura alone.

"I just can't believe how stupid they all are! Can't they see she's Rose?!" Lissa said loudly, not talking to anyone. She paced her room, trying to vent out her anger while Christian sat in the sofa, not knowing what to do next. He's really concerned that Lissa won't be able to hold off and the spirits would be a lot to take for her. Lissa kept on blabbering while the boys just watched her worriedly.

"What the hell is her problem? Just slapping me as if I'm not… or I wasn't a friend! And to top of it all, she did it in front of all those people! What's with her? Acting so cool and all!" She said, almost screaming. Christian stood up and hug Lissa, not saying anything. She stops and just gave a heavy sigh and hug Christian back.

"Thanks." She murmured. "I just can't believe that after all these years, she still hates me." She said and cried to Christian's shoulders. Dimitri and Eddie just watched them silently, feeling sorry for them.

Though for him, he can't tell whether it's Katherine or Rose, who did it. When Dimitri first met Katherine, she acknowledges and greeted him like an old friend. But when it's Lissa, he doesn't know. Sure she greeted her as Princess Dragomir then she slapped her. But then, Lissa slapped her first which makes it reasonable for Katherine to fight back. Yeah… it's Katherine. Just when Dimitri thought that at that instant, Rose was back.

After a few hours, Lissa decided to call it a day. She and Christian retreated back to their room and have a rest. Now that they live together now, it's easier for me and Eddie to guard them. Though normally, Lissa has more guardians but Katherine knock them down earlier and Lissa decided to give them some rest. I smiled a little as I remembered how swiftly Katherine moved, feeling a bit of a pride. 'How did she manage to improve that much while studying for college?'

"You must be so proud of her." Eddie suddenly said as the couple left. "I mean not the part where she slapped Lissa, of course." He shrugged as I looked at him in confusion. "She effectively knocked down all Lissa's guardian in one go. We definitely need their help." He continued to reason out as I remember about my duel with Michael.

"Yeah. We really do need help." I agreed and stood up, heading towards the kitchen to get some food.

"I'll just go for a jog before I sleep. Is it okay if I leave them to you?" Eddie asked while stretching. I just murmured a yes before Eddie head out, effectively leaving me with my thoughts.

"_You don't deserve any of this. You got him killed."_ Michael's voice keeps ringing on his head since their duel. He has no idea what he's exactly talking about but being a strigoi before, he has killed a lot of people and he really doesn't deserve any of this. Who's exactly was he talking about? Somehow, he sees this as some kind of an opportunity to make it right to someone who was left behind because of him. For now, he has to know who it is.

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><p><strong>Michael's POV<strong>

Michael keep groaning in his sleep, beads of cold sweat on his face, knotted eyebrows and ragged breaths, and he keeps on turning on his bed as if trying to get away from his nightmare. This kept on going for a few minutes before Michael suddenly gasps for some air like he was unable to breathe earlier. He jerked away from his bed like a burning coal and stared at it before he finally calm himself. He walked down the kitchen to drink some water.

"Nightmare again?" said someone behind me as I sighed.

"It's not like I have a friend like Adrian to block my nightmares." I answered and turned around to face Katherine. I could practically see the wheels on her brain turning, working on what I said.

"Don't" I said immediately. "Don't get me wrong, I like the guy but being with him in a dream? That's too much bromance." I added with a winced and Kat just chuckled at me.

"It's 6am already, I'm still doing the last round of shift." Kat said as she looked at her wrist watch. "You should get ready so we could run the ground of this court." She added.

"Yeah sure. I'll go wake up the other." I said as I made my way upstairs. I could still perfectly remember the flashes of images I had every time I got nightmares and in every images flashed, Dimitri has something to do with it. He just hopes that after his shower, his mood would be better.

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><p>"Rise and shine, sleepy heads!" I yelled, effectively waking up everyone. I chuckled as I heard them groan and grunted in each of their room. As soon as their up, we got straight into the kitchen, expecting our breakfast made by Katherine. She just raised an eyebrow at us as she saw us sitting, waiting for our meal to be served.<p>

"You do realize that this house hasn't been occupied for years and there's nothing in the kitchen right?" she said as she put her hand on her waist and leaned to her side. Everyone groaned at this realization. Every time we hunt, Katherine took care of our food. She packs groceries and stuff to feed us, which is also the reason why she always got the last shift to guard.

"Are you guys really that hungry now?" She asked innocently at us as we gave another groaned. " I say, we should round this court first and then head to some place to eat afterwards." She added too brightly.

"Why can't we eat first and then round the grounds later?" Tyler asked desperately. Kat just smiled at him.

"That's because Adrian would join us for breakfast!" She answered excitedly. Each one of us gave a small protest like _'he sleeps like a rock', 'it wouldn't be called breakfast anymore if they eat with him'. 'they'd be dying from hunger by the time he wakes up'_ and a lot more but Katherine is obviously looks decided.

"Oh come one! Don't be like that!" She said as she pouted at us. "He said that he would really wake up early this time." She added.

"Kat, don't get us wrong, we love the guy but by the time we get to eat, we're in the brink of starvation." Matthew said. No one was moving from our seat. Katherine just crossed her arms together, still smiling at us.

"He said that it would be his treat."

"I'm gonna take a shower." Matthew announced and got up. Everyone followed immediately as well.

"Me too. Just give me a few minutes." Tyler agreed seriously. All of a sudden, the mood became serious and it was all back to business.

"I say we should ask the ones who are guarding the wards, know for some changes and ask when the next schedule of strengthening of the wards is." Sebastian was saying while Katherine just grinned widely. After muttering some things to himself, Sebastian left to have a shower.

"Huh. So that's the reason why you're smiling like a fool." I said as Katherine looked innocently at me.

"Breakfast for free." Katherine said with a shrug. "Besides, he wasn't able to attend my party last time." She added with a pout.

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><p><strong>DPOV<strong>

"Damn! I can't believe we got up so late." Eddie muttered to himself. I sighed. Lissa and Christian got up a bit late. It's almost 9am in the morning and we won't be able to attend the morning training. We're on our way to the usual restaurant when we met Adrian along the way. He just nods at us as a way of greeting.

Since Rose left, there had always been a rift between Adrian, Lissa and me. He always believes that it was our fault that Rose left. I do believe that one too.

"Morning, guys." Adrian said as we all stop suddenly, surprised that he talked to us. "I heard about your little scene, Princess Dragomir." He added with a smile. Lissa was astonished for a moment before she regained her composure.

"Yeah… I bet everyone does." She answered.

"You're right. The news spread like a wild fire."Adrian agreed. "Well, I have an important appointment right now. If you'll excuse me…" He said and started to walk again. We also continued our walk and find it odd that he's also heading to the restaurant. He looked genuinely happy, not caring despite the weird looks we're giving him.

Adrian wakes up in the afternoon. He always looks like he just got up from the bed, unlike now he looks neat and fresh. Whatever that appointment is, it is indeed important. We seldom saw him like this even if he has a job now. Truth is, we seldom see him, period. He looks excited as he opened the door of the restaurant.

"What happened to him? He even greeted us." Christian asked as we walk towards the entrance of the restaurant as well.

"I have no idea." Eddie answered as he opened the door for the couple.

I heard a familiar voice and a group of laughs as we got inside. As we find the source of the noise, Lissa gasps behind me. The Power 5, eating and laughing together with Adrian. I felt a pang of pain sinside my chest. Waves of emotion rushed inside of me; Betrayal, Jealousy, Anger, Envy, Sadness. I'm not even sure which is which and I bet the others felt the same way minus the jealousy, of course. Katherine saw our group. She just smiled and waved at us like it was a normal thing and continued her chat with her group.

"What the hell is this?" Lissa whispered; confusion and betrayal in her eyes

Adrian Ivashkov, the one who said nothing in those years when we we're desperately looking for Rose, is officially screwed.

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><p><strong>Hey guys! Don't forget to put your comment on this! I'm done with the next chapter and I'm working on it as you've been reading this one. I hope you liked it!<strong>


	14. Chapter 13

**Hi guys! Here's the next chapter! I'm firing up! I'm really enjoying myself by writing this story. And I'm already planning to write another story after this one. Here it is!**

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><p><strong>DPOV<strong>

Lissa walked swiftly towards the table of the infamous group and stop at the side of Adrian, who keeps on talking like it was nothing. If looks can kill, Adrian would be probably dead by now. Though Lissa, could technically do that, Adrian is also a spirit user which could actually control the spirit more than Lissa. Christian immediately went to Lissa's side in worry for the bad effects of Lissa's anger. Eddie and I followed him. Adrian sighed as the group stopped talking.

I looked at Adrian's other side, Katherine. She's currently enjoying her food, effectively ignoring the building tension around them. I instantly remembered how she fought off Lissa's guard yesterday. Katherine or not, I still can't believe how much she improved her fighting skills.

"What the hell is this?" Lissa said in a low-voice, trying to keep her emotions in check.

"Like what I told you. An important appointment; a breakfast with my friends." Adrian answered casually.

"Then I have more important appointment for you. We need to talk." Lissa said through her gritted teeth. Adrian just sighed heavily. The rest of the group kept on eating, not caring about the confrontation happening.

"Hold there, my dear. Just because you said it's important doesn't mean it is important, Princess Dragomir." Adrian said slowly. Lissa is visibly shaking in anger.

"Princes, You might want to keep your emotions at bay. You don't have someone whose spirit bound to you, don't you?" Katherine said innocently and tilted her head sideways.

"She's right. If you really wanted to talk to me, I'll call you later." Adrian said with a smile and went back to his food, completely ignoring us. Lissa breathe heavily, calming herself for a minute and walked away. We followed her lead and ate in another restaurant.

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><p><strong>Adrian's POV<strong>

_4 years ago…_

I brought Rose's favorite donuts, hoping that these would be enough to make her feel better. I know the moment Dimitri came back from being a Strigoi, it's only a matter of time before Rose came back running in his arms again. That's why when I heard Dimitri doesn't want her back, I didn't know what to feel, especially when I saw Rose with such pain.

I was walking towards Rose's room when I saw Lissa crying in front of door of the said room.

"Adrian, she's gone! It's my entire fault." She said when she saw me coming. Waves of fear run through me.

"What? What do you mean by gone?" I asked dumbly as I checked Rose's room to search for her, knowing perfectly well by what Lissa means by gone. Eddie was standing inside the room, reading a letter with his guardian mask. Clearly, he was waiting for me as he gave me a letter.

"Rose wants me to give this to you. Don't worry I didn't try to read nor open it." Eddie said assuring me as I accept it, hearing my own heart beat in my chest. Deep down, I already knew what's inside this letter. Despite of what I feel, can I still read it? I walked out of the door and went to my room blindly. I lie down at my bed, thinking if I should read it before trying to find her my dreams. After an hour or so, I decided it was best to read it first.

_Adrian,_

_I know you're angry with what I decided to do. I'm sorry. I really am. I promise you, I would tell you where I am but you should also promise me not to tell anyone. I want a new life, a normal one where humans have. I'm planning to go to a college with the help of my father. I'm gonna change my name so Lissa and other's won't be able to find me. I know this is so selfish of me but I swear I'm not going to waste this chance to make my life better. I promise I would be successful in my second life._

_The moment I saw you, boy, I knew you were trouble but who am I to say that? I'm just like you, causing troubles myself. I love you, I really do. Flaws and all, I love it but I'm not in love with you anymore. It hurts me to know that you were hurt because of me and I hate myself for that. I know how crappy this letter is. I'm not really good at this. But still, I'm going to give this line, we can still be friends; you'll always have a space in my heart. If you ever fin in yourself that you still want to talk to me, I'm just a dream away._

_P.S. This might gonna be my last favour I would ask from you. Please burn this letter. You're the only one I trust and I can't have somebody to see this letter._

_Rose._

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><p><em><strong>Present Day<strong>_

It's fucking hard to move on but just like what Rose said in her letter, she would always have a space in my heart no matter what I do. There would always be a part of me that won't be able to move on and would continue to love her. But now, I'm contented with us being friends. I feel great being a part of Katherine Mazur's life, seeing how much she trusts me and how successful she is now. I think we're better off as friends, we understand each other in more ways than being a couple. It made us more mature.

"So I heard that you're working on a new masterpiece of yours. How's it going?" Kat asked as she bites a mouthful of bread.

"I wouldn't say it's a masterpiece, yet." I said as I winked at her. She acted a mock surprise.

"Who are you and what have you done with Adrian?" She joked.

A year after Rose left, I graduated as an Art student to keep my mind busy and use it to move on with Rose. Rose's plans also made me finish my studies, thinking that if she could do it, then so am I. By the time I finished my course, that's when I realize I'm not loathing Rose anymore, instead I'm thankful to her. That's when I decided to come in contact with her again. I always visited her through dreams and sometimes, even in person. Two years have passed and I decided to go back in court, now that I've already established my name.

As I finished our breakfast, I promised the group that I would catch up again later after I talked with Lissa and the others. I sighed as I dialed Lissa's phone number.

"Where are you?" I asked immediately after hearing the phone call picked up.

"Meet us in my place." She answered and hung up, not waiting for my response either. I decided to buy some alcohol before I headed to Lissa's place. This is gonna be an awful talk and I need a help from my alcohol. I thought that they would still be in some restaurant. Talking in their place would make it gloomier than talking in some public place and I can pretend it's a pleasant chat from an old friend.

I gulp the last amount of alcohol as I got near the place.

*knock. Knock* "Come in!"

I breathe in deeply as I readied myself to be bombarded with different questions. As I walked inside, they were all standing in front of a couch.

"Please… Have a seat." Lissa said as she motioned me to seat at the said couch. I walked slowly and seated. Lissa and the others were still standing so I gave them a smirked.

"If you're trying to intimidate me by standing, please you're just making yourselves tired." I said and smiled sweetly at them.

"No. I like it better this way." Lissa answered and began to walk slowly around me. "So… tell me, why didn't you told us something about Rose when she was gone?" She started.

"Oh boy… You guys should have said that this would be an interrogation, not a 'talk'." I answered. Lissa didn't say anything, just stared at me, expressionless but I knew better. Her aura is on fire, she's too angry. I sighed. "You asked me about Rose and I told you nothing which is basically the truth." I answered with a shrug. Eddie suddenly advanced at me, both fists hardened to his side. I hold up my hand. "It's true. As you all know, that's Katherine Mazur, not Rosemarie Hathaway." I added.

"Oh cut the crap! Let's skip the part where we argue that she's not Rose but Katherine!" Lissa suddenly shouted and began pacing the room back and forth.

"Fine. I didn't told you anything because she asked me not to. That her only wish; for you not to interrupt while she's trying to get a new life… because. You. Destroyed. It." I answered raising my own voice as well. Lissa stopped in her tracks, disbelief in her eyes.

"I know I hurt her, but destroyed?" She said and laughed. This time, I'm the one who's getting angry by the minute. Is she serious? "You know deep down that you destroyed her the moment you made her spirit bound to you. It's only a matter of time before she would be swallowed by your dark spirit."I said darkly to her and I went towards the door, not wanting to prolong my time here.

"Then how about me?" Lissa shouted desperately. I stopped dead in my tracks. "I can't be like you, depending in booze." She added weakly.

"You managed to stay this long for four years, try to make it until forever. And about my ways, at least I'm not destroying someone else's life." I answered.

"I saved her life! She owes it to me."

"And she saved you as well, offered almost all her life to you just to protect you." I answered and left.

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><p><strong>KPOV<strong>

After our breakfast, we went at the office of the guardian leader to know the schedule of the strengthening of wards. It is scheduled to be strengthened by next week, following the schedule of the next full moon. As the war is nearing, they often strengthen the wards to keep up the court's defenses. But without the full moon, it only makes a little difference.

The leader is not pleased at us, saying they had training in the morning and there would be another by this afternoon. It is done every day to improve their skills and talent. Our group decided to join the training saying it would get to be boring if they're only going to round the grounds.

"Fine. We would join you in this training of yours. But when the time came, only our group is the ones that we trust, don't expect teamwork from us. If we ever find your guardians being on our way in the battle, we won't be responsible for 'collateral damage'." Michael said to the leader before asking the time and place where the training is being held.

We brought some groceries before we head to our place. It's almost 1 in the afternoon and the training starts at 4 in the afternoon in some massive gym for the guardians. I placed the grocery at the counter top as soon as we reached our place. Sebastian and Matthew started to round the perimeters of the area while Michael and Tyler checked the interior of the house while I cooked for them. This is our normal routine when we hunt or even after we hunt. We would stay for before we headed back in our home just to be sure that no one followed us. We know that it's not necessary since there are the wards but the thing is, we don't trust it.

In this upcoming war, the Strigoi would surely thought of the plan how to break in. No matter how strong the court's defenses are, we always think of the worst case scenario and how to deal with it; even if it's not possible enough. The boys took ten minutes to make sure that there's no danger in the place. For the next few hours, we just readied ourselves for the training. Of course, I brought my favorite outfit: tight pants, tank top, leather jacket and a pair of black ankle boots. I rearranged the curls in my hair and put some make up. Anyone would think that I'm going somewhere rather than fight. But hey, I'm famous for fighting with such grace and beauty. Let's just say that I want a Strigoi to remember how awesome his/her killer is or my duel partner to remember how good I look before I knock him/her down. Yep, vain but I'm really aiming for that.

I hear a knock on my door before Michael's head peered through it. He studied me for a while and smirked. "After all the hunting we've been through, I still can't imagine how you can kick some ass with that." He said, indication my shoes. "Don't get me wrong, you do well with that, I just can't quite grasp how you could even run with that seeing how girls complain about their shoes." He added defensively seeing how I react to his earlier statement.

"I told you, it's customized. I spent a lot on this and it's really worth it." I said and stood up. We locked down the house before we went to the gym.

"Wait" Michael suddenly stop walking when we passed at the park where our duel yesterday happened. "You hear that?"

"Hear what?" Tyler asked

"Not hearing anything" Sebastian said and shrugged.

"That's the point. It's too quiet." Michael explained. We realized he's right, the silence is almost deafening.

"Michael, I know what you're trying to say but we only observed this place once, besides the sun is still up." Matthew said rationally.

"I know. I just don't like this feeling."Michael said. "Just don't let your guard down." He added and continued to walk.

I think almost all of the entire court's guardians are here, which we pointed out as a bad idea as it weakens the court's defense. The leader just brushes it off, saying that the wards itself is enough to keep the strigois off.

"Moron" Michael muttered under his breath and joined the group as well. The training consists of a warm-up, one-on-one duel, and lastly, a special fight where they would pick a guardian and let him/her fight three guardians at one for five rounds. As everyone has their warm-up, we just decided that it would be better to observe our possible opponent since we had our warm-up back in the house. We just sat at the side and watched them which, of course, raised some eyebrows. By the end of the warm-up, the leader said to pick our opponent whom we haven't had a duel yet. The boys were thrilled because they have their own targets now. I, on the other hand, don't really care. I'll just wait for someone to ask me than initiate an awkward conversation. Knowing that I've instantly made a name for defeating Princess Bitch's guardians, it wouldn't be long before someone would ask a duel from me.

Finally, I felt a tap on my shoulder so I looked around. Dimitri. If I haven't watched the duel between him and Michael, I would say that I'll be thrilled to fight Dimitri. But now? Uhh… not really. Sure, Michael's really that good that even the rest of the group can't match him. Yep, that's the secret why he's the leader. I hope this duel wouldn't be so bad.

"Awe… Dimitri, I don't want the Princess to be defenseless, remembering that I knocked down all her other guardians." I said as I teased him.

"I just want to talk." He said. I raised an eyebrow at him, feeling disappointed.

"Well… We don't have time for that." The leader said, suddenly appearing at the back of Dimitri and walked towards the centre of the gym. That's quite creepy from my taste.

"Attention! It has been reported that the wards have been broken!" The leader announced.

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><p><strong>Tadaaaaah! So the war finally started! What does Dimitri wants to talk about? Will they ever get the chance to talk now that the war has started? Comments, Comments, Comments!<strong>


	15. Chapter 14

**Katherine POV**

"Attention! It has been reported that the wards have been broken from unknown reason and they can't fix it until the next full moon." The leader announced as the guardians gasped in horror. "The sun isn't down yet which gives us a few hours to get ourselves ready. Go to your assigned Morois and places!" he added and got out of the gym immediately. All the guardians except for our group and Dimitri immediately followed the leader and left the gym.

"Do you have assigned places?" Dimitri asked us before he leaves, Eddie was waiting by the door for Dimitri. '_Come on, man!'_

"We don't need assigned places. We round the ground, look for the Strigois and kill them." Michael answered. "Don't even try to get in our way." He added threateningly. Dimitri understood that they won't get teamwork from us and joined the rest of the guardians.

We headed back to our place, got our specialized weapons, packed some foods (Yes, we bring foods in our hunts like a trail food for a mountaineer.) and put it all in a smallest bag possible. I got the map of the whole court that I drew before we headed to the gym, strategize our team play. There's no time to waste, the court is in full red alert.

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><p>We've been running around for the past five hours since the sun has been down. No Strigoi, No attacks, Nothing. We even checked the wards if it was really broken. We ran outside the wards but we didn't see anything. The hold is suffocating, waiting for the Strigois to come and attack us, not knowing when and where. It's almost midnight and nothing was reported a thing in the headquarters.<p>

By three o' clock in the morning, other guardians are starting to soften down their guards. Thinking that in a few hours; the sun would come back shining at all of us. We couldn't blame them. 24 hours awake, waiting for almost 8 hours to fight and nothing has come. We weren't exactly wanting to have Strigois inside the court but the waiting is messing with our minds.

"We have to know who broke the wards." Sebastian said.

"No shit, Sherlock." Tyler answered grumpily. Patience isn't one of his strong suits, we all know that.

"To know that, we have to know the exact time it was broken." Michael answered.

"Definitely not a Strigoi, breaking it while the sun is up makes it impossible for them." I said. "It's either human or someone from the inside." I added.

"Why would someone from us help those Strigois infiltrate the court?" Mathew asked incredulously.

"Kath might be right." Michael interjected. "Even though humans can break the wards, it's simply impossible for them since the wards are being guarded all the time." He added.

"So it's probably a guardian." Sebastian finished and sat, feeling betrayed.

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><p>It has been three days since the war has started and it's a complete nightmare for everyone. At night, we wouldn't hear a single noise or commotion indicating Strigoi attacks. The whole court is as silent as a grave but by the time the sun rises, someone would suddenly scream their lungs out; a death of a whole Moroi family together with their guardians. They were taking us down one by one silently.<p>

Every night, we round the grounds repeatedly every hour into two groups, looking desperately for a Strigoi or any sign that they've been in any place. By morning, we would get some news again about whose family is dead. We would try to get some rest by lunch until afternoon. Before we get to look for the Strigois, we would visit the victim's house, looking for any clue that might get us into anything at all.

We were getting desperate, looking for Strigoi like this, is like looking for a lost needle in a haystack. This silent war is like a virus, not knowing where our enemy is, yet we do know that it's there, lurking by the side. Before the sun sets, Michael and I would start to round the grounds while the rest would lock up the place then start their own patrol. The reason why we divided our team into two groups is while the others hunt for Strigois, Michael and I would look for some clues that would direct us to someone who's behind this.

For now, our number one suspect is the head guardian. It's too easy for him to access all the security of the court. We also consider that Morois can also be a suspect but let's face the fact that from Strigoi's point of view, Morois are far more delicious than a guardian.

Sometimes, we would follow him secretly, waiting for a clue to be dropped or a sign that he's cooperating with the Strigois. But waiting for evidence takes time and we couldn't waste a time while some families die every morning. After following him for two days, we decided that we move on to the next suspect since the attacks are still happening even if he has an eye for him. Problem is, our next suspect is a Moroi, one of those who cast the spells in the wards. We thought that it would be easy for him to destroy the wards.

So the next day, Michael and I decided to split up to check more and budget our time. I would check the said Moroi while Michael continues to check on other suspicious guardians. Finally, by the end our shifts, the three boys managed to stop an attack from the Strigois and killed them while we found nothing. My patience was wearing thin. Since the start of the war, I've got nothing to kill but time. I was expecting a lot more fighting than this fucking mind game. My weapons are starting to get a little dusty and so does my skills.

Michael decided to lay-low for a bit, sensing that we were becoming on their top list of suspects since our group manage to spot and killed the Strigois. I would say that they're just jealous but of course, our team is infamous and they never wanted our help in the first place. We were the _'special case'_ remember? Because of this, it made it harder to look for suspects when all eyes are on us.

"This is annoying! We helped them and not a bit of gratitude were shown. They even suspect us!" Tyler almost shouted as we walk back to our place.

"Someone's trying to frame us." Michael said quietly.

"Maybe we're getting close?" I said, not really believing what I'm saying.

"It started when we suddenly stick our nose to different suspects. We might be getting close or we might lose him." Michael answered.

"How could you say that we're getting framed?" Tyler suddenly asked, bewildered about what Michael just said.

"I'm not saying that you're not capable of hunting Strigois but why is it that it took you guys four days to spot Strigois. The same day Rose and I chose another suspect to follow." Michael explained.

"Maybe the Strigois became careless." Tyler answered stubbornly.

"Or maybe they're waiting for us to do it to strengthen their proof against us and then let the guardians get rid of us." Matthew said sleepily after taking a nap.

"Makes sense." Michael agreed. "But we shouldn't let them know that we already knew what they're trying to do. We should just continue to do what we already started and act like we still don't know what's happening, supposing that our enemies are watching us." He added in a very low voice.

All of us agreed, vowing to ourselves that we will fight to the end.

* * *

><p><strong>DPOV<strong>

A lot of Moroi families have been killed but none of the Strigois has been found not until the Power 5 spotted a group of them before they attack another family. Since then, a lot of people are starting to suspect them as the one who destroyed the wards while the said group just ignored it and continued to hunt. But I knew better, they might be infamous but nonetheless, they kill Strigoi, not help them.

They're just finding someone to put the blame to ease their mind or someone's trying to set them up.

Basing on the time the wards has been broken; I was watching their group from a distance. Someone else is helping the Strigoi and pointing their filthy fingers at the innocent group. They've given us a lot of help by hunting them down. I always see them in the distance, running around the whole place constantly. I don't see why someone would want them out of the court, except if you're one of the Strigois, seeing them as a huge threat.

The others might not a feel a slight gratitude at all but I am glad that they're here, saving the rest of us here. So to pay them back, I'll go find that person who's responsible for all of this, the one who started it all.

"Is it okay if I left them with you and the others? I asked Eddie while he's eating.

"I have been actually waiting for you to say that since the wards has been broken." Eddie said with a smug smile. "You should have seen your face when we heard the news about the Power 5 killed their first hunt." He added.

"It's not them." I simply said and shrug.

"I know. They can't be the one who let the Strigois in." Eddie agreed and I breathe deeply, relieved that he's thinking the same. "The people just need someone to blame and end this creepy war." He added.

"I can't thank you enough." I said and knocked on the door of Lissa's and Christian's room told them that I would help the hunt for Strigois. When the war has started, other guardians weren't able to fight and just let others do the hunting. We have to stay wherever our designated Morois are and keep them safe from the Strigois, especially when the said Moroi is from a royal family.

Luckily, they said they didn't mind especially now that Christian mastered his element. He's quite confident that he could protect Lissa by himself, plus there are six other guardians including Eddie in this place, keeping an eye for both of them. In fact, they really think that I should be out there and help the others.

"Kill as much as you can for me!" Eddie shouted and chuckled as I left.

* * *

><p>I decided to check discreetly the office of the head guardian first before anything else. If I want to have a clue about the person who's behind this, I'm sure that that place is a start that I should look first.<p>

I walked casually towards the office, while thinking of excuses to say to be inside of that room. I can't just say that I'm there to investigate about an inside job when I don't really have a proof, can I?

I knocked on the door, waiting for the leader to answer. A few seconds have passed; still no answer so I decided to knocked again and called out for his name. I waited a bit, thinking that he might be doing something important or he's not in the office. For the last time, I tried to knock on the door louder and almost shouted his name still, no answer.

So I checked if the door is locked and to my surprise, the door opened. I know I could get into big trouble by doing this but still, I slowly pushed the door slightly and peeked inside. I tried to call out the leader's name in an almost whisper and again, no one answered. I thought this would be a great time to check all the files while no one is here. Who knows, the leader might be the one I'm looking for.

I immediately went to his table when I saw a pool of blood behind his desk and at the middle of it; the leader's body was lying lifeless. His eyes were opened and the shock was definite in his pale face. I immediately shouted for help and went to his side, checking for some traces of the killer. I heard a rapid clicking of heels coming closer and closer by the second. Katherine looking confused as ever.

"I thought..."she trailed for a second before her senses came back. She immediately surveyed the whole room and checked the files rapidly and careful, not wanting to add more suspicion on her side. Few minutes later, a set of footsteps were coming closer to the room while Katherine looked straight through my eyes, a question hanging between us. Will I help her find the guardian who did this? Or we'll be on our own looking for the same thing?

"What's going on in here?!" One of the guardians burst through the doors together with two other guardians who obviously out of breath.

"We were checking the perimeters of this area when we decided to pay our leader a visit. We just found him like these." I answered calmly while I heard Katherine exhaled slowly, obviously holding her breath a while ago. The guardians seemed to weight my words when we heard a scream not far from this area.

"Go. A lot of establishments are being under attack all at the same time. We need some help especially from you, guys. We got this." He said immediately and went to the side of the dead body. Katherine and I didn't need to be told twice and went outside immediately.

We readied our stake at hand when one of the guardians yelled. "Wait!" he said. "Please don't tell anybody about this news yet." He added, afraid of what might happen to other guardians once they knew about this devastating news. We both nodded at him and ran towards the scream.

* * *

><p>I have this feeling stirring in the very inside of me. Deep down I knew why, I looked sideways at Katherine. Back then at the St. Vladimir's Academy, I tried as much as I can to protect her. When we attacked the cave before I was turned into a Strigoi, I was afraid for her, for Roza, but of course I won't tell her that. She would definitely say that she could defend herself.<p>

Today, as both of us run towards the fight, seeing how her hair swish through the wind, how her eyes blaze with fire, Rosemarie or not, I could definitely see the person I love and how much she grew into this wonderful young woman. I know this isn't the time to have some sudden realization but I couldn't help it, could I? Whatever she says, Katherine or Rosemarie, I wouldn't let go of this person. I would continue to love her as much as I could. I would hold on to the same fire I always see from the very beginning that I met Roza and I could still see it with Katherine. Whoever she says who she is, she's still the love of my life and I would definitely go back to her in a heartbeat. If only she would give me a chance.

* * *

><p>As we reached our destination, I immediately recognize the area. This is the place of one of the Morois who will put the spell for the wards tomorrow when the full moon comes. We immediately searched through the whole place.<p>

It has been a massacre. As the full moon is just around the corner, the numbers of dead bodies are getting higher. Lots of bodies scattered around the house, guardians who tried to give help were also killed. The sight of all the bodies being dumped like they were nothing, it is a nightmare to see. Some were swimming on their own pool of blood and others were the opposite, dried their blood to the last drop. All were wearing the same facial reaction, surprise and horror mixing in their face.

"This is a trap." Katherine whispered to herself. I checked the bodies of the dead guardians trying to speculated we we're about to face.

Sure, it's a Strigoi, seeing the two puncture in their necks but the lack of injuries and others having a pool of blood doesn't make any sense. Why would they waste the blood of the others while some are consumed to the last drop? It was like they never fight at all; just let the Strigois drink from them.

"No sign of force at all." I said to Katherine. "Just like what happened to our leader." I added, remembering the head guardian earlier, wearing the same expression with these guardians as well. "She was stabbed."

"Then it's definitely a guardian." She answered casually and went to sit on the almost destroyed couch. "Give me a minute." She said and then closed her eyes. I could definitely see the wheels in her head turning. Does she really do that in the middle of their hunting? She might be attacked in that situation.

"What the..." She started as she opened her eyes. I just raised an eyebrow at her. She just sighed heavily in return. "Underground" She said simply. "I never thought of it before and it was so stupid of me to never thought of it before." She added not looking directly at me, embarrassed at herself. She stood up and suddenly moved all the bodies aside.

"So... We're looking for a secret underground passage?" I asked skeptically, not really believing what she said.

"Not exactly but something like that." She said as she continued to arrange the dead bodies of the victims. I have no idea what to do next nor what is she doing. As I'm about to ask her, Katherine knelt down in front of the lined up bodies.

"Are you praying?" without thinking, the question just slipped through my mouth.

"No but I'm trying to say thanks to their souls and promised to get back to those Strigois who did this to them." She said quietly. Right. Spirit bounds can see spirits of those who passed away.

"Why not ask who did this?" I asked.

"They can't talk." She answered and stood up. She got some paper from her pocket. "This isn't a trap now. This is just a dead end." She said as she laid out the paper in front of me, a map.

"Where did you-" I started.

"I drew it." She cut off, obviously getting annoyed by all the questions I'm making and started put a X mark to those places that had been attacked for the past days. "The place of attacked are kind of lined up, right? The court has been built hundred years ago and has been remodeled as the time goes and a lot of buildings were added." She said and breathe deeply. "which gives a reason to create a new sewage system and abandoning the older one."she added in a whisper.

"The old one were being used by the Strigois as their passage which enables them to attack directly to an establishment. With that, it looks like they could attack in a broad daylight." I said as I realized what Katherine has been trying to say. Once the wards are sealed again, they won't be able to use the sewage system as their passage so they killed the Moroi who's going to enchant the wards.

"There was no war in the very beginning." Katherine said in a whisper. "We were invaded the minute they arrived." She added.

"What are you saying?" I said, not believing that she gave up already.

"They could have attacked us from the very beginning, giving us an all out war when the wards broke yet they didn't take us on all at once. When Strigois attack large group of Morois, they threat it as a buffet meal. But now, they made us as their food supply. This court is now officially their huge refrigerator that they could just go for a food whenever they want." She explained and sat again on the couch.

We were both silent for a moment, thinking deeply about what Katherine has just said about the state of this court. So this is why they haven't attacked Royal Morois yet huh? Save the best for last. Even though I don't want to believe it, I knew that what she said was right.

"We should go now. You have to tell them everything." She said after a few minutes of our silence but not standing up from her seat. I walked to her slowly and kneeled in front of her.

"Hey. Everything will be all right. Now that you've solved the puzzle, it will be easier for us to fix this. It is all thanks to you and your talented brain." I said lightly but serious as well. She closed her eyes and breathe deeply. As she opened it, the fire was back in her eyes again. I stood up and helped her to get to her feet.

As we went towards the headquarters, we heard some rustle coming from the location of the previous attack. We immediately followed and found a possible entrance from the sewage system.

"We're not ready yet. Inform the other guardians and I'll call for my team." Katherine said immediately not wanting to waste more time. I didn't want to waste more either so I ran towards the headquarters. As I looked back at Katherine, she was still standing at the entrance and talking to her phone.

I never thought that that might be the last time that I would be able to have a glimpse of her.

* * *

><p><strong>KPOV<strong>

As Dimitri and I found the entrance, I immediately recognize a signal from Michael. He's been here. It was one of our signal shen one of us is in danger. We have different kinds of signals but the one I saw isn't the one I've been expecting from Michael. It's his piece of earing and it still has its lock on and not a single blood is there which means it's not accidentally droppe. But the dreadful thing is, that's the way of Michael saying '_I'm in danger and don't look for me anymore.' _It's a dead man's signal.

I rapidly made a call to everyone else when Dimitri left, explaining everything to them and also about Michael. I talked about the location but didn't say anything about Michael's signal. I know once they find out about this, they would definitely follow his wishes.

But I am THAT stubborn. I just can't let Michael go like that now that I know the whole court knew about the sewage system by this time. There would be a help coming from both our team and the court's guardian. I could still save him.

I added my bracelet to Michael's piece of earring, knoing that I can't keep lying to the,. I breathe deeply and readied myself. It might gonna be a long passage towards their base. I stuffed my stake at my back and got out my true weapon. Double sword enchanted with the same elements with our stake. Unfortunately, I'm not just going to stake the, I'll behead them and fight as long as I'd have to to save Michael.

I got down the sewage system and looked back at the entrance. I'm sorry Dimitri, I can't wait for the rest of the guardians. I started to walk slowly and prayed to whoever's out there that I would be able to keep my promise to Abe. As I walk deeper into the sewage system and meet some shocked Strigois, I realized a dreadful mistake. This isn't a passage. This has become their nest itself.

As I came to my own conclusion, it feels like my own ending is coming to an end as well. Lots and lots of groups of Strigoi surrounded me but to my surprise, they aren't attacking me yet. Suddenlym a guardian popped in front of me. Anton Rilet, the second-in-command, the one who showed us where our place is right after the ritual for the new guardians in the court.

"Oh... So you're the one who betrayed the whole court." I said casually. "I'm quite surprised you're not a Strigoi yet." I added with a smirk.

"Oh I will. Soon. And so you are." He said as casual as I am. It seems like we're just talking about the weather in the park.

"Yeah. Yeah. Both sides always want me." I sand and winked at him. "But I'm telling you, I'd rather die than be with you. Strigois smells sucks." I said as I cringed my nose.

"I know you would refuse and... we can't lose more Strigois. Your team are all pain in the ass so I got a present for you." He said and Michael's limped unconscious body has been taken forward and shoved in front of me. I could feel my mask cracking, realizing what the hell is about to happen.

"It took us almost two dozens of Strigois just to take him down. I know it's gonna worth it." Anton said with a blissful smile. "Your dear Michael is going to be dead if you decide not to join us. Bottom line, how many lives do you want to give up, Katherine? Or should I say, Rosemarie Hathaway?" he added.

I am deeply frozen in the ground right now but all the thoughts running through my mind is that I could still save Michael. I know they're going to let Michael go and instead, they would both turn us into a Strigoi. But I want to believe that somehow, someone out there would save us, I just have to trust and risk it. I know Michael would never forgive me but it's better than being dead, right? But if I would be in Michael's position, would I want to be a Strigoi rather than dead? No. Our biggest nightmare is to be like them. I'd rather die and so is Michael.

My decision has been made.

"Wow! You really did consider things, don't you? Isn't that a bad thing? Or you're just shicked at everything that you can't seem to think straight?" Anton said while laughing at me, circling around me.

I chuckled at his statement. "No, not really. I know where this is going and I am going to save Michael." I answered.

"Well...You could have save him in another way." he said darkly as he realized what I just said. "Sorry to say, you don't really have much of a choice." He added in a mock sadness.

"I know." I answered with a smile as every Strigoi around us started to attack and I readied myself to fight until the end. Sucks to know that I wouldn't be able to keep my promise to Abe.

As I'm about to black out, Dimitri face suddenly popped in my mind. I smiled a little. I guess it's true huh? That you see the face of the one you love when you're about to die. I felt a single tear drop in my face as I close my eyes.

* * *

><p><strong>THIS STROY IS FAR FROM OVER. THIS ISN'T DONE YET. It took me days to figure out this chapter. Whew! Longest chapter I've written so far! I hope you enjoyed it! Our vacation is coming to an end and a new school year to come. Comments please! Thank you!<strong>

**Please visit my new blog (I erased the last one) ordinaryyounglife (just add the blogspot address)**

**I used Katherine Mazur as my pen name yeah... I know... how creative of me. Please follow my blog! I update almost everyday. Thanks!**


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